By the Beat of Her Wings
by RavenRunning
Summary: <html><head></head>After two years of unexplained delay, Holly Hawk finally receives her Hogwarts letter and is thrust into a world she had only dreamed of. Follow Holly, accompanied by her friend Keira, as she tries to navigate the halls of Hogwarts, made all the more difficult because of her mysterious vow of silence.</html>
1. Epilogue

**Prologue**

Thunder clapped overhead, making the roof of the Leaky Cauldron creak and moan. Harry's eyes snapped open. Even though the storm overhead was sounding like a million atomic bombs, that wasn't the sound that had woken him. He lay still, listening. He didn't hear anything above the sound of the storm so he lay back onto his pillows. As soon as he felt himself drifting off, his eyes sprang open. There it was again… a soft thump. Harry lay still, trying to locate the source of the sound. Again it did not repeat itself, but this time, he couldn't get back to sleep. He found his mind wandering back to the events of the past few days.

He had been at the Dursley's, anticipating his third year at Hogwarts. He had been doing quite well actually, until he blew up Aunt Marge. But the Minister had said that that was all fine and he wouldn't be punished. Harry had then left the Dursley's, almost gotten attacked by a giant black dog, picked up by the Knight Bus and then safely lodged in the Leaky Cauldron, courtesy of the Minister for Magic himself.

The memories were still a little fuzzy so Harry tried counting ceiling tiles, since the Inn's sheep were off getting sheared. Harry felt a little sad, he liked those miniature sheep. He missed them. One of them, he had named Hank, always hopped onto his chest and just sat there, like a cat. It seemed to Harry that Hank was guarding him, because whenever he had woken up, Hank would be cuddled against the door. Thump! Harry's mind snapped back to reality. The ceiling tile he had been in the middle of counting had just thumped! Don't be stupid, thought Harry, something on the roof _above_ the ceiling tile had just thumped. Another fact came to Harry's attention: the rain had stopped. The wind, however, was still buffeting against the window, making the glass rattle. Whoever was on the roof was stupid, stuck or spying, thought Harry.

He got out of bed and went over to the window. The sill outside was drenched with water. Harry silently thanked himself for buying those waterproof slippers yesterday, and quickly slipped them on. He opened the window and stepped out onto the sill. There was a slanted ledge leading up to the roof. Water was flowing freely down to the deserted street below. Walking up the sides of the trough, Harry reached up and pulled himself onto the roof. He was greeted by a screech and a mouth full of feathers. By the time he had recovered, the owl had flown away with an indignant hoot and a bare chest.

Harry spat out the remaining feathers and looked around. He blinked. Standing barefoot in a puddle of water was a girl. Her robes were much too small for her and she looked like she hadn't had a decent meal in a while. She looked about Harry's age and had the same jet black hair. She was reading a letter, which must have been just delivered because it was dry. She hadn't noticed Harry yet because all of her attention was focused on the letter in her hands. Harry recognized the Hogwarts crest. Just then, she looked up. There was an expression of pure joy on her face. Their eyes met. Harry was struck by their colour; they were a deep honey brown with green around the iris. The expression of happiness suddenly changed to one of terror. Harry opened his mouth to tell her he didn't mean any harm. But before he could say anything she ran to the edge of the roof and, quick as lightning, jumped off.

Harry's stomach did summersaults. The street was at least twenty feet below them! He ran to the edge and looked down. He gasped. The girl had jumped from the roof of the Leaky Cauldron to a ledge sticking out of the building across the street. As he watched, she ran along the ledge to a drain pipe then, light as a feather, scaled the pipe up to the roof and sped across it. She jumped the space between the two buildings and, as she landed, did a summersault and stopped. She turned around and looked back at Harry. When she saw the shocked expression on his face, she smiled and, still clutching her letter, disappeared behind a chimney and was gone.

Wow! Was all Harry could think, wow!


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Holly Hawk was out of breath and sweating.

Almost there, she thought as she swung from a sign onto a ledge on the building opposite, almost home.

The shock of earlier this morning was wearing off, as was her adrenaline. Jumping down from a chimney stack, she rolled across a roof and slid down a drainpipe. She landed next to a shop window full of shrunken heads and giant dead spiders. Holly shivered, she hated Nocturne Alley, but this was the only place where she could find a home. Home, she sighed as she looked at the small, abandoned shop. It was definitely not home, she thought, more like a shelter. Holly fingered her necklace absentmindedly as she entered the shop. Most of the windows were boarded up, so it was very dark inside. Her necklace rustled. Holly reached up, took it off and laid it on the ground.

The necklace had two pendants on it: a wolf and a fawn. They were placed so that it looked like the wolf was forever chasing the fawn, round and round the chain. The chain, however, wasn't a chain at all. It was a slim, silver dragon decorated with little etched scales. Its' wings folded tightly around its' body with its tail in its mouth. Holly reached down, patted the dragon's tiny head with her finger and the jaws opened. She stretched out the dragon and slid off the wolf and fawn pendants. The moment they were both off and into a pouch that Holly also kept around her neck, the dragon blinked, stretched its wings and neck then sat staring at Holly.

"Hello, Keira," said Holly.

The dragon purred and lay on her back, clacking her jaws happily while Holly scratched her tummy.

"So what did you think if our little surprise today?" Holly asked, "It was a bit of a shock seeing _Harry Potter_ with our own eyes wasn't it, and getting that letter. Looks like my dreams are finally coming true!"

Keira let out an excited little roar. It sounded like pebbles bouncing off each other.

Holly sighed dreamily, "Hogwarts, I can't believe it. I thought they'd forgotten about me. I am thirteen after all, so I'm supposed to be in third year. The letter said they couldn't locate me, which is strange because I haven't gone anywhere."

Keira cocked a scaly eyebrow and tilted her head.

"I know it's not fake, how could you think that Keira? Look, the crest is right there!"

Keira hung her head and scuttled into a corner.

"Oh Keira, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to raise my voice." Holly rushed over and scooped up the little dragon, "I love you, and you know that. You're the only one I actually talk to after all."

The little dragon nipped at the pouch containing her wolf and fawn charms.

"Yes," cooed Holly, "you keep my charms safe. You're the only one I trust, my only friend."

Keira chirped happily, then quietly closed her eyes and fell asleep, purring softly.

Holly stood there, rocking gently, thinking back to when she had lived with Tom and Lila, her adoptive parents. They used to tell her the story of how they found her, each night before going to sleep. How they had found her under a willow tree by their driveway, wrapped up tightly, with the wolf and deer charms tucked into her blankets.

Holly touched the pouch around her neck and willed herself not to start crying. She had loved Tom and Lila very much. She remembered running into the house, laughing and smiling. She remembered it had been her birthday and remembered Lila's face when she had given Holly her cake. It was shaped like a heart and had six candles in it. That's right, it was her sixth birthday. After dinner Tom had given her a present, winking and telling her not to open it until morning. Then she remembered him standing up and going to answer a knock at the door. As she ran upstairs she heard him call Lila. She remembered his voice had sounded funny. Then all she could remember was someone screaming, green flashes and explosions. She had hid in a cupboard and clung to the present that Tom had given her, trying not to scream as tears rolled down her face.

She woke up the next morning and ran outside crying and screaming because she'd seen their bodies in the doorway. She ran out to the willow tree where they said they'd found her and sat there crying and crying. She sat there for a long time, not knowing what to do, and then she remembered Tom's present. She opened it right there, under the tree. It was a necklace chain shaped like a dragon. As the morning light touched it, the dragon came alive. It stretched its wings and flew in circles around her head and she forgot all about that night. All the memories came flooding back, however, when she read the note that was at the bottom of the box:

_We hope you like her. Her named is Keira. _

_She'll carry your charms for you._

_Love, Tom and Lila_

Holly's eyes snapped open. She was back in her shelter; Keira was snoring softly on her lap. She'd had the dream again. As the tears rolled down her face and she started to shake, Keira woke up and started licking her face.

Ever since that day, thought Holly, ever since that day she hadn't spoken a word or laughed, except to Keira. Her clients didn't mind, all they wanted was for her to do something that they didn't have the time to do. They didn't care whether she was human or not. Except Olivander, he was the only person who had taken even the slightest interest in her. He was the only one who knew that she would speak sometimes, well, she wouldn't speak, she would sing. It often helped her to keep away the sadness. She used to always sing with Tom and Lila.

That was too much Keira, thought Holly, too much remembering.

Holly surrendered to the sorrow and cried herself back to sleep.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"No, really," said Harry, "She actually jumped across the street, climbed up a pipe and landed with a summersault!"

He was sitting at the ice cream shop in Diagon Alley. It was a beautiful day, which was made even better by the presence of his two best friends Ron and Hermione.

"You said she had a Hogwarts letter?" said Hermione, "Well then I can expect we'll see her at Hogwarts this year."

"Yeah," said Harry, "but I'm sure she was our age, not eleven."

"Well then maybe she stole it," said Ron, "After all, Harry, you said she looked like a street kid so…"

"Ron!" exclaimed Hermione, "How thick are you! Even "street kids" have to go to Hogwarts. Dumbledore would make sure of it."

"Maybe she isn't a witch," said Harry, not wanting his friends to start bickering, "I mean what if she's a muggle and just found the letter."

"Harry." Sighed Hermione, "You said you saw her in Diagon Alley, which means she has to be magical because muggles can't get into Diagon Alley. And you saw an owl flying away from her -"

"I didn't only see that owl," muttered Harry.

Ron started laughing.

"Anyway," continued Hermione with exasperated looks at the both of them, "You saw an owl, Harry, so the letter was probably just delivered to her when you showed up."

They all drifted into a thoughtful silence, wondering who this mystery girl could be. Suddenly Harry exclaimed.

"Hey, that's her! There! No, over there! Going into Olivanders'."

And sure enough, as they looked towards the old wand shop, they caught sight of a girl with long black hair, neatly brushed, a fair face and pale skin.

"Come on, let's go." said Harry.

They all got up and made their way over to Olivanders' wand shop.

Holly leaned against the door as she closed it. She wasn't used to being so crowded. She walked up to the cluttered counter and dinged the little bell three times in a row, paused, then hit the bell a fourth time. From deep within the towering shelves of wand boxes a voice called,

"Come in Miss Hawk, I've been waiting for you."

Holly walked past the desk and into the depths of the shop. She had always like the atmosphere of this particular store the best. It was mysterious, ancient and filled with magic. It just seemed to draw her. Many a rainy night had she come in and just sat on that spindly legged chair by the door. After the first few of these incidents, Olivander had started to befriend her. That was a long time ago, thought Holly, I was only seven.

She had reached the centre cross-section of all the corridors of the wand shop. It was a big, circular area where Olivander could be found when not at the front desk. This time, she found him busy cataloguing the type of wood of some wands.

"Ah, Miss Hawk," he said as she came closer, "Just finishing up. You did a wonderful job cleaning up last time. I still can't find my tape measure."

Holly smiled. She often helped the wand maker clean up his shop, and he had a habit of not finding things that she put away. She sighed, walked over to him, pulled open the third drawer on his desk and produced the tape measure.

"Ah," he said as she handed it to him, "The one place I never look."

Holly gave him a sweet smile, then her face grew serious and she gave Olivander a small nod.

"Yes," he said, "You would like to know why I was expecting you. Well, as a matter of fact, I got a letter from the Headmaster of Hogwarts the other day…" he gave her a sidelong glance as he put away some wands.

Holly took out her Hogwarts letters, almost shaking with excitement, held them out to Olivander. His eyes lit up as he caught saw them.

"Oh, my dear!" he almost whispered, "Congratulations, I see he finally found you."

Holly gave him a proud look, which turned to one of curiosity as she realized that he seemed to know something she didn't.

"Relax, my dear," he said when he saw her eyes, "I had my suspicions about you not going to Hogwarts last year, or the year before that for that matter, so I sent a letter to the Headmaster. He sent me back saying I was the answer to one of his many prayers." Olivander gave her a wink, "he's been looking for you for about three years now, you know."

Holly's eyes widened with surprise. Why hadn't Hogwarts been able to find her? She'd been here, in Diagon Alley, for about seven years now. She knew all the surrounding alleys for miles around like the back of her hand. She knew all the secret passageways and all the short cuts. If someone wanted something delivered, they knew she was the one to do it the quickest. Everyone around here knew who she was. Why couldn't a famous school find her?

While Holly was lost in these thoughts, Olivander had been rummaging around in his desk looking for something. Suddenly there was a loud crash that came from the direction of the door. Holly was snapped back to reality and Olivander slammed his fingers in a desk drawer.

"Ouch!" he cried, sucking on his fingers.

Holly rolled her eyes and went over to him. He held out his hand and she inspected it. Olivander gazed at her admiringly while she looked his hand over.

"I've always admired your healing skills, Miss Hawk," he said, "You'll make a great witch someday, maybe even work at St. Mungo's or the Ministry."

Holly shrugged off the compliments, if you grew up alone in the back alleys of wizarding London, you had to learn and you had to learn fast. She pulled out a bottle of white cream from her robes. They were much too small for her, but she couldn't afford new ones. She carefully applied the cream to Olivanders fingers. The swelling and bruising went down instantly.

"Thank you," said Olivander, "now I must see to what that ruckus was about."

Holly followed behind the wand maker and they made their way to the front of the shop.

"Oh, Ron you're completely hopeless!" moaned Hermione as Ron fell off the chair for a second time. The crash echoed around the shop. Ron had just gotten up when Olivander appeared muttering things about silly children. He stopped when he saw the three people standing there.

"May I ask what you three are doing in a wand shop if you already have your wands?" asked the wand maker.

"Yes, sir," said Harry quickly, "we were just wondering if you'd seen a girl."

"A girl?" said Olivander, "what girl, might I ask?"

"Oh, she's about as tall as me, long, black hair, her eyes are brown with green around the middle." Harry didn't know why he'd added the part about her eyes.

There was a sudden rustle behind the desk and Holly appeared before them.

"Ah, I believe I know the girl of which you speak, Mister Potter." The wand maker said as he motioned to Holly, "Mister Potter, Miss Granger, Mister Weasley, I would like you to meet Miss Hawk and vice versa. But will you three wait for further introductions a moment? Miss Hawk and I have something to discuss."

And with that, Olivander conjured two more chairs and then whisked Holly back into the depths of the shop. Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged glances. They'd never seen Olivander so flustered.

"He's probably just tired," said Ron into the eerie silence.

As Olivander pulled Holly deeper into the shop, Holly yanked her arm free and stood glaring at the shopkeeper, her arms folded across her chest.

"Oh, Miss Hawk, don't be angry. I just wanted to give you your wand," he explained.

Holly's eyes immediately caught fire and she quickly followed Olivander back to his other desk. He stopped there and got busy looking around the shelves, pulling out supposable wands for Holly.

"In the letter from professor Dumbledore, he instructed me to tell you that you needn't buy anything except robes and a wand," said the wand maker as he hurried around the shelves, "I'm happy to give you your wand at no expense but you must get your own robes. Now I've spoken to Madame Malkin, and she's agreed to take some poultice for her feet instead of money."

Holly's eyes were filling with tears. As Olivander turned around, he noticed and rushed over to her.

"Oh, Miss Hawk, what is wrong? You must not be sad, this is your dream come true. You are going to Hogwarts! You should be singing, or playing, eh? I've seen you in Mister Twicks' piano shop."

Holly flung her arms around the old wand maker and hugged him with all her might. The man was so kind to her and she loved him for being her friend and for keeping her secrets. Her necklace rustled. Oh Keira, thought Holly, you're my friend but be careful, not even Olivander knows about you. Her necklace quieted. Holly kissed the old man on his cheek, making his old, pale skin turn quite a shade of pink.

"Oh, alright, it was nothing," he spluttered out his excuses but Holly hugged him even tighter. When she finally let go, she had stopped crying. She reached into her robes and took out a fiery golden feather. It was a phoenix feather. Holly knew that Olivander had been running short on them. She had done some serious digging to get even one, but she knew that even one would be a big help to him. She'd been hoping for a special occasion to give it to him, and this seemed very special. She placed it into the palm of Olivanders' hand and closed his fingers over it. He smiled his thanks to her, and then set about giving her wands.

It didn't take long for him to find her a wand, mainly because he knew her better than anyone. But it was a surprise even for him that her wand was made of holly and that it had a golden unicorn hair as a core, from a baby unicorn.

"Very unusual, Miss Hawk," said Olivander, "so unusual, in fact, that the wand maker tended to mark these wands so he'd know who had them."

Holly was intrigued and it showed on her face.

"Yes, my dear," continued Olivander, "only one wand maker ever used young unicorn hair in his wands, he operated from Bulgaria but has been retired for quite some time now. He sent one wand to each of the wand shops around the wizarding world, this is the one I received and you are the lucky one whom it chose."

Holly stared at the wand in her hands; it was still warm from its acceptance of her. There was a swirling vine etched from the tip to the base, where there was a small, circular symbol. It was crossed by three squiggly lines. Holly almost giggled; it looked like a swirly peace sign.

As soon as Olivander had wrapped her wand, he sent her, after another long hug, to go and see what Harry, Ron and Hermione wanted.

Holly, however, still wasn't sure she was ready to meet the three people waiting at the front of the store. So, unknown to everyone, she slipped out a secret side entrance and quickly went to the robe shop, rummaging through her robes for a foot poultice. She felt a little guilty about abandoning them, but she didn't really know them and she wasn't good with people anyway. She wondered how she'd survive at Hogwarts. But for now, all she would have to worry about was whether there were robes in her size.

Bless you Olivander, thought Holly as she entered Madam Malkin's Robe Shop.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

It was easy getting to Kings Cross Station. Holly had been there before a few times to deliver some packages. She got there early and got a compartment near the back of the train, where she could hopefully stay alone for the ride. As it got closer to 11:00, the train started to fill up. A few students walked by muttering things about that escaped prisoner, Sirius Black. Holly wondered why they were all so scared. Sure he'd been in Azkaban, that meant he was really mean, and he'd escaped, so he was smart. But Holly could bet that she'd seen twelve other guys like him on her deliveries. She picked up a paper she'd found in a garbage can on the platform and started humming.

Harry, Ron and Hermione had already found their compartment and were talking in low voices so as not to wake Professor Lupin, who was asleep beside them.

"Do you think she'll hate us?" asked Hermione in a worried voice, "I mean we sort of just left her before she could come back."

"Don't worry," said Harry in a reassuring voice, "Hawk's fine. I saw her in Madame Malkins' robe shop when we went by with your mom, Ron. She was giving Madame Malkin a bottle of something."

"I still think we should have told Mrs. Weasley that we were waiting for someone," said Hermione.

"By the way Olivander was yanking her around," interjected Ron, "I don't think he'd be letting her see us anytime soon."

"It was weird," said Harry, "I've never seen him that agitated before."

"Yeah, sure," said Hermione, who was still worried that Holly might hate them, "but if we see her we tell her that we had to leave because Ron's mother came and got us."

"Whatever," said Ron as he bit into his fourth chocolate frog.

Holly had just reached the final chorus of her song when a group of boys entered the compartment opposite hers. She looked up from her paper to see who it was. There were three boys. Two of them looked like pet gorillas, minus all the hair. The other boy had pure blond hair and was smaller than the other two. Holly smiled to herself. She'd seen the likes of them on most of her deliveries, the mastermind and his two body guards. Translation: the typical bullies. Holly was snapped out of her analysis when the blond boy looked up and saw her staring at them.

"Hey, what are you look-," he stopped when he realised he'd never seen her before.

Holly let her eyes go back to her paper and realized she'd read the same paragraph about three times now. She threw the paper down in disgust. She was so distracted. It must be nerves, she thought. Just then, her compartment door opened. She looked up to see the blond boy standing there. Holly blinked. That wasn't right, the bully never went anywhere without his body guards.

"Hello," he drawled, "my name is Draco Malfoy."

He paused and glanced at Holly before going on.

"I haven't seen you around before, are you new or are you just a really tall first year?"

Holly glared at him before showing him her bag, which had her name on it.

"Holly Hawk?" his voice had changed to a sneer, "Never heard of a Hawk family. You must be muggle born."

Holly's eyes could have burned a hole through his pale, little face. So that's what kind of slob you are then, eh Malfoy, thought Holly. Malfoy eyes flicked back towards the other compartment, he was beginning to regret leaving his cronies over there. But his attention returned to Holly when she started to shake her head.

"What?" he asked, "So you are a pure blood?"

Holly nodded. Tom and Lila had taken her to Saint Mungo's for a blood test to see if she was a pure blood or not. It had seemed important to Tom that he know if she was of mixed blood. Lila seemed to be uncomfortable with the whole thing; she didn't care about blood types.

Tom and Lila Scroop were very kind people, but Tom had always had a respect for the blood type of a witch or wizard. It was the only thing that they had disagreements about. Other than that, they were the loveliest people to have as adoptive parents.

Holly was glad that this Malfoy boy thought that she had a family with the last name Hawk, which was wrong. Tom and Lila had given her her last name partly because they severely disliked their own name, but also because when they had found her under that willow tree, a hawk had flown overhead and she had stretched up her chubby little arms and tried to grab the bird. Of course, it was much too high for a little baby to reach, but it had earned her a last name.

Holly looked back to Malfoy. He was staring intently at her. She blushed and started to fiddle with the hem of her new robes.

"Can you talk?" he asked, surprisingly blunt, but his voice held a note of actual curiosity.

Holly nodded.

"Well then why don't you?"

That question was too much for Holly. She lowered her face and tried to hide the tears, but Malfoy was quick.

"Why are you crying? Did I insult you?"

Holly shook her head, trying to get a hold on her emotions, and looked up. That was a bad idea, she thought, never cry in front of someone, now he can hold that against me. But all Malfoy did was take a handkerchief out of his pocket, gave it to her, and then he silently left.

That was strange, thought Holly. Her necklace snuffled quietly and she stroked it. She swiped her eyes and started humming again, her thoughts turning back to Hogwarts as she drifted off into sleep.

When she woke up, she found herself on the floor of her compartment. It was dark and cold. Holly could see her breath forming a cloud of mist above her. Jumping to her feet, Holly suddenly felt a deep cold envelope her heart. That is never good, she thought as she opened the compartment door to look out.

Bad idea. She immediately felt her sorrow drowning her, choking her, she couldn't breathe. Holly fell to the ground and rolled up into a ball. She raised her eyes and almost screamed in terror. There was something floating over her. She couldn't see its face; it was covered in dark robes. As it bent down towards her, the smell of rotting flesh filled her nostrils. Suddenly everything went misty, she couldn't make out anything clearly, and she could hear someone screaming, begging. There was a flash of green and the screams stopped, but the begging continued. A streak of silver shot across her line of vision, then everything went black.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

When Holly regained consciousness, she found herself back in her compartment, lying on one of the seats. There was a man sitting opposite her, reading the paper she had dropped.

"Ah," said the man when he saw that she was up, "you're finally awake."

He folded up the newspaper and started searching his pockets. He pulled out some chocolate and handed it to her. Holly sat up and bit into it. She immediately felt warmth spread through her body. She gave the man a warm smile and then a questioning look. He understood.

"My apologies for the lack of introductions, I am Professor Lupin, your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. The thing that attacked you was a dementor, one of the guards of Azkaban. They were searching the train for Sirius Black."

Holly nodded her thanks for him helping her. Then it was his turn to ask questions.

"May I ask what your name is?"

Holly showed him the same bag she'd shown that Malfoy boy.

"Ah, Miss Hawk then?" he confirmed, "Well, now that you are awake and well, I must continue on my way to speak to the conductor. You were lucky I came by when I did. A second longer and that dementor might have kissed you."

And with that, Professor Lupin left. Holly was still a little shaken, so she finished her chocolate and got up to look around. Everyone was looking shaken and the train was eerily silent as she walked past a compartment with some familiar faces in it. Holly summoned her courage and knocked on the window. Harry looked up and blinked in surprise before motioning for her to come in.

It took a while for Holly to try and explain what had happened, but eventually they guessed it, with the help of her facial expressions. And Holly found out that they'd done the same thing to her in Olivanders shop. So they were all able to forgive each other and laugh it off, except for Holly, who didn't laugh, but she did smile encouragingly.

They had just offered her a second chocolate frog when Malfoy happened to pass by the compartment. As he reached for the door, Harry, Ron and Hermione jumped up. The door opened and Malfoy stuck his head in.

"Hey, Potter," he sneered, "are you okay, you look a little faint."

The two thugs behind him sniggered. Malfoy caught sight of Holly and the smile was wiped off his face. He nodded to her and she, fighting back a smile, nodded back. Malfoy then retreated down the corridor. Harry, Ron and Hermione stood staring at Holly.

"Did Malfoy just show you some respect?" gasped Ron.

Holly shrugged; she didn't think she'd earned Malfoy's respect. Maybe seeing her cry had done it. Maybe he felt sorry for her. Holly shrugged again. At least she had someone's respect.

Just then the train started to slow down. Holly left her new friends to pack up, and she returned to her compartment to get her bag.

When Holly got onto the platform, she just stood there. She wasn't sure if she should follow the giant man with the other first years or follow the other students to the carriages that were waiting. She felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Professor Lupin.

"You look lost, Miss Hawk," he smiled, "come with me, I'll take you to Professor Dumbledore."

He headed towards the carriages. After a moment's hesitation, Holly followed him, only to stop once again. She tapped Professor Lupin's shoulder. When he turned around she pointed to the space between the rails of the carriage. Lupin gave her a questioning look, and then he understood.

"Those are thestrals, my dear," he replied, "I cannot see them because, like most of the students here, I have not seen death."

Thestrals, of course! Holly thought, she'd read about them at the book store in Diagon Alley once. But why could she see them? She hadn't seen death, or she couldn't ever remember seeing death.

Once they were both settled in the carriage, Holly started humming again. Lupin gave her another questioning look and she immediately stopped and turned away from him.

"Do not feel embarrassed, Miss Hawk," said Lupin, "I won't tell anyone," he added as if to reassure her some more.

Although Holly felt that she could trust Professor Lupin, she did not resume her humming and they rode to the castle in silence.

Draco Malfoy was feeling very confused as he sat down at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. He just didn't know what to make of that Holly Hawk. He had spoken to a few of his Slytherin cronies and no one had seen her before. She fascinated him. She said she could speak but she chose not to. And it hadn't looked like she'd had much, just her bag that had her name on it. Draco shivered as he remembered how she had looked at him when he'd asked if she were muggle-born. Her eyes had been balls of fire. She had nice eyes. But then she had taken him completely by surprise and cried when he had asked why she didn't talk.

Crabbe nudged his arm.

"What!" he spat.

Crabbe pointed to the doors of the Great Hall. Hawk had just entered behind that man he had seen on the train, the one with the shabby clothes. Draco watched as they both walked up to the staff table. The man said something to Professor Dumbledore, and then went through a door behind the staff table with Hawk in tow. To be fair to her, it looked like she had no idea what was going on. A few minutes later, the man came back out and seated himself at the staff table and the sorting started.

After the last first year had been placed into Ravenclaw, Draco noticed Professor McGonagall take the Sorting Hat into the back room. Not long after that, Hawk came out and went to join the Gryffindor table.

"Damn!" spat Draco.

Goyle gave him a weird look. Draco ignored him. His eyes were still on Holly. Damn, thought Draco again. She had gone and sat down with Potter and his gang. As he turned his attention back to his goblet, Draco noticed that Markus Flint was watching the Gryffindor table as well. That's a little weird, he thought.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Holly fell onto her new bed none to gracefully. What a day we've had, eh Keira? She thought, yesterday we fell asleep in an abandoned old shop in Nocturne Alley, and now we're going to fall asleep in a castle! It was so unbelievable that Holly had to pinch herself just to make sure she wasn't going to wake up on a wood floor with rain dripping onto her face.

She was placed in Hermione's dormitory with Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. Holly had never slept with other people around her, but since these beds had curtains, she thought she'd be fine. Beds! Actual beds! Holly couldn't remember the last time she'd slept in a real bed. That was probably sad, wasn't it, she asked Keira. Keira rustled in response.

At that moment, the other girls came into the dormitory.

"Oh, hello Holly," said Hermione, "I'd wondered where you were, everyone's still down in the common room, why don't you come back with us."

Holly shook her head. She wasn't quite in the mood to be asked a lot of questions that she couldn't answer.

"Okay then," said Hermione with a slightly disappointed look on her face, "but you can't hide up here forever. There are a lot of people that want to meet you."

"Including the Weasley twins," giggled Lavender.

"Is it true you can't talk?" asked Parvati suddenly.

Hermione gave her a disdained look, but Holly shook her head.

"So you can talk then, why don't you?" said Parvati.

"Well that's her business isn't it Parvati, how would you like it if people kept asking you why you wear your hair in that ridiculous bun all the time," countered Hermione.

"Sorry," said Parvati, "but not talking is a little weirder than my hair," she shot a little glare at Hermione.

Holly was beginning to feel uncomfortable so she decided it might just be best to go down with them. She might as well get this over with anyways. She got up and made her way over to the door. Hermione lifted her eyebrows but followed her, and the girls made their way back down the stairs.

The common room was still full, so Holly had plenty of people to meet and not say hi to. Hermione kept close to ward off too much attention, which Holly was extremely grateful for. She already liked Hermione very much. She hoped that they would become fast friends.

Within fifteen minutes she had met all of the boys in her year as well as Ron's twin brothers Fred and George, the quidditch captain, Oliver Wood, and some other girls on the team, Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell. All seemed eager to meet her and all she could do was smile and nod her appreciation. She noted that George Weasley kept glancing over after her. The thought made her feel warm inside. She did think he was quite cute, but Hermione had said that he and his brother were both tricksters so she would have to be careful.

It wasn't until Professor McGonagall came into the common room and told everyone to get to bed, that Holly was able to get back upstairs to go to sleep. She jumped into bed and was just crawling under the covers when Hermione came over.

"Don't you have any pyjamas? Or are you going to sleep in your robes?" she asked.

Holly blushed and kept wiggling under the covers. She didn't have any other clothes. Hermione put her hand on her shoulder.

"Here, take these," Hermione handed her a light blue dressing gown and some slippers, "these are too small for me. I was going to throw them away, but…here."

Holly took the dressing gown in her hands. It felt almost like silk or maybe it was satin. Hermione watched as Holly gazed longingly at the gown in her hands.

"I'm not accepting them back, so if you don't want them just throw them away or find someone else to give them to."

Holly gave Hermione a sly smile. She knew that she was being forced into take them, whether she liked it or not. Holly got up and gave Hermione a hug. She quickly stripped off her robes and slid the lovely gown over her shoulders. It fitted perfectly and felt amazing against her skin. She put on the slippers and strutted around the room, showing off her new finery.

Hermione laughed and said, "You know that it's only for the bedroom right?"

Holly rolled her eyes at her and smiled. She jumped onto her bed and just lay there. She was in a castle, lying in a four poster bed and wearing the most beautiful night gown in the world. She felt like a princess. She had never had anything like this, never. Life was definitely going to get better now. Holly had never been happier. She crawled under the covers and went right to sleep.

Down in the dungeons, Draco Malfoy was also preparing for bed. His mind was buzzing. He had just had the most unusual conversation with Markus Flint, the captain of the Slytherin quidditch team.

Flint had come up to him in the common room right after the feast. At first they had talked about quidditch and how Malfoy's father could get all their brooms polished for free, but then Flint had brought up a subject that Draco did not want to talk about.

"So I saw you eyeing that new girl at the feast," Flint had started, "the one who got into Gryffindor."

"Yeah," said Draco, he did not like this topic at all, especially coming from Flint.

"So, what do you know about her. Not that I'm interested in any, realistic, way."

Draco wasn't really sure what that meant so he just shrugged his shoulders.

"I mean, she sure is easy on the eyes," continued Flint, barely noticing Draco's shrug, "but she's in Gryffindor, so there must be something wrong with her."

It was painfully obvious that that wasn't what Flint thought at all.

"Are you looking at some skinny little Gryffindor chick now, Flint?" sneered Draco, "Pansy wasn't enough for you?"

"Shut up!" snapped Flint, "I was just saying she was pretty, that's all."

"Sure," said Draco.

Flint got up and stalked off to his dormitory. Not long after that, Draco had followed suite. Now he was lying in bed and wondering what school would be like now that there were Slytherins going after Gryffindors.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Holly woke up in a flurry of blankets and pillows. Where am I Keira? she panicked, I'm all tangled up in something. Keira's sharp chirp brought Holly somewhat back to her senses. Oh, she thought, I'm just in bed… In bed?! Holly sat bolt upright and looked wildly about her. It took a moment for her to register the sleeping body in the bed next to hers, but eventually she remembered the events of the previous day. Well now I just feel silly, thought Holly.

She untangled herself and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Her feet fell upon the slippers Hermione had given her and she let her toes slip into them. She realised that in the span of a day, she had been transported to a castle, given the most elegant bed she could ever imagine and had made her first friend. Holly counted the latter as the most treasured gift. She quietly got out of bed and made her way down to the Common Room.

It was still quite early in the morning and the moon shone brightly through the window by the fireplace. Holly snuggled into one of the red armchairs placed around the room and unclipped Keira and let her play on the windowsill. As Keira clacked and growled at the strange creature reflected in the window pane, Holly let her mind wander. It wasn't long before she once again drifted off to sleep.

Holly woke to find a hand gently shaking her shoulder. She jerked up to find Hermione standing over her.

"You'd better go get dressed," she said as she helped Holly out of her chair, "You don't want to be late on your first day."

Holly glanced wildly around the room, where did you go Keira? she thought. Then she felt a little nip on her wrist. Feeling a slight weight wind around her arm, Holly gave Hermione a grateful glance and hurried up the dormitory stairs. As she rounded the door way into the girls dormitory, a streak of orange flew by and almost knocked her over. As Holly regained her balance she heard an exclamation form down the stairs.

"Oi, Hermione! Keep that thing in line!" she recognized Ron's voice. Holly ducked into the dormitory before she could hear the rest of the argument.

That must've been Hermione's cat, she had heard Harry saying that she'd gotten a new one during the summer.

Holly quickly got back into her robes, reattached Keira and hurried back down to the Common Room. She didn't see Hermione, Ron or Harry. They must've already gone down for breakfast. Holly climbed through the portrait hole and followed the buzzing crowd of Gryffindors down to the Great Hall.

She found herself seated at the Gryffindor table between the quidditch captain, Oliver Wood, and Seamus Finnigan, a boy in her year. The table was piled high with the most delicious foods she had ever seen. She piled sausages, eggs, bacon, potatoes and pancakes onto her plate and dug in. Even though she'd stuffed herself the night before, she felt just as ravenous now.

After she'd eaten enough to stop her stomach from growling, she took a break from her plate and looked around the Great Hall. The ceiling was mirroring the fresh, blue sky that must be outside and the candles were all slightly dimmed. As her attention turned from the Hall to the students in it, she let out a little gasp. She hadn't been able to see the vast amount of students that had been in the Hall last night, being so overwhelmed and it being night and all. In the light of day there were more people within these four walls than she'd ever seen, even in the packed streets of Diagon Alley. How will I manage? she thought to herself.

While she was mulling over this predicament, the professors came down from the head table to hand out time tables. Professor McGonagall placed Holly's on the table in front of her. Holly glanced at it, and then stared. It was blank.

She started to get up to get Professor McGonagall's attention.

"You are to see Professor Dumbledore after breakfast, Miss Hawk." said Professor McGonagall, "Do not forget that he favours sugar quills."

Holly shot Professor McGonagall a questioning glance but she had already moved on further down the table. When she had finished her breakfast, she got up and was halfway down the hall before she realized that she didn't know where Professor Dumbledore's study was.

As she stood in the middle of the Great Hall trying to figure out how to ask someone for directions, she felt that someone was trying to get her attention. She turned and caught the eyes of a person with very ginger hair.

George Weasley had overheard what Professor McGonagall had said to Holly and since he did not feel like starting the year off with a potions class, he offered up his services as a guide. He could tell by her expression that Holly was relieved to not have to try and ask someone. He actually felt proud that he had made this easier for her. He had only known her for a day, but he felt like he had to take care of her, plus she was really, really pretty.

As they made their way back up the Grand Staircase, Holly's foot sank right through a step halfway up. Unfortunately, she made no sound, so George didn't notice until he had already reached the top.

He turned and saw her knee deep in stair and his face flushed magenta, he ran quickly back down again.

"I'm sorry, I should have warned you, I'm so sorry I didn't notice," he kept apologizing until Holly shushed him with a wave of her hand.

"Are you okay?" he asked, he would hate that the first time that he was alone with Holly Hawk she got hurt.

To his relief, she nodded her head reassuringly and tried to grab a hold of the railing.

"Here," said George, offering her his hand, "let me help."

Holly blushed and took his hand. He wobbled a bit because she was a little lighter than he had expected. He grabbed out to steady himself. It wasn't until he had pulled her out of the stair and got her safely onto the next one that he noticed his hand had fallen on her waist. He flushed furiously and quickly pulled his hand away. They stood there awkwardly for a few seconds, Holly with her head down, George looking in the opposite direction, both looking like their faces had been painted red.

Holly gave a little sigh and George shook his head.

"Come on," he said.

And they continued up the stairs.

George left her standing in front of the gargoyle, muttering something about being late. Holly stared after him. He certainly was cute, she thought, and he's very kind. Those are both good qualities right Keira? the little dragon wiggled around her neck until she got to Holly's ear, which she gave a little nip. You're right, thought Holly, I don't have time for boys right now.

She turned her attention towards the gargoyle that stood silently in front of her. This was supposed to be the door? Holly thought. She looked up and down the hall. There weren't any other rooms on either side of her. Well this is a bit weird isn't it Keira, she thought, what did Professor McGonagall say? Keira purred quietly in her ear. Well I hardly think that sugar quills will help at this point, maybe she wanted me to buy-. At that moment the gargoyle sprang to life and jumped aside, revealing a large, wooden door.

"Professor Dumbledore is expecting you." It said in a deep gravelly voice.

Holly nodded to the gargoyle and walked through the door. She walked up the spiral staircase and knocked gently on the door at the top.

Professor Dumbledore's study was unlike any room Holly had ever seen. Every shelf was cluttered, every tabletop full, there were even small mountains of mechanisms piled in the corners. Things clicked, ticked and whirred everywhere. For a few moments, Holly just stood in the doorway, awestruck.

A small rustling sound interrupted the constant clicking to her left. Holly turned and found herself face to face with a phoenix. Well aren't you gorgeous, thought Holly, reaching out and stroking the birds soft plumage. It gave a soft coo and clacked its beak just as a door shut, covering up the sound. So Holly didn't hear Professor Dumbledore entering the room and continued to pet the phoenix.

"A beautiful bird isn't he?" spoke Professor Dumbledore.

Holly spun around and stared at the floor, frozen.

"His name is Fawkes," Continued the headmaster, "he's a phoenix."

Holly nodded and glanced again at the birds' bright plumage. She had seen many of these beautiful birds stuffed bodies in the stores of Nocturne Alley, but seeing one alive was much more wonderful.

"I summoned you up here to pick out your classes for this year, since I wasn't able to contact you before this time." said the Headmaster.

Holly nodded apologetically and walked forward to take the parchment that was being held out to her.

"For now, you will be taking the usual third year classes, until we figure out where you stand in the lessons, if you need to take first and second year courses, I mean."

Professor Dumbledore seemed to have it all figured out already, thought Holly, what does he need me for?

Dumbledore motioned for Holly to look at the parchment in her hands.

"This is a list of all the optional courses you may take, as well as the ones which are mandatory."

Holly looked at the list. Well I have to take transfiguration, potions, charms, herbology, care of magical creatures and defence against the dark arts. That leaves two open spaces. She scrolled down the list and picked out a few that seemed interesting. She wrote these out at the bottom of the parchment and handed it back to Professor Dumbledore.

"Well," he said, "Divination is a fine choice, and so is history of magic, but I'm afraid that the arithmancy class is at full capacity this year, Miss Hawk."

He brought out a blank schedule from his desk and tapped it with his wand. The blocks and times started to fill up the page, and soon Holly had a full years' worth of classes.

"There you are my dear," said the Headmaster, "Now it appears that your first class is Transfiguration and it would not do to miss your first day entirely. Do not worry about your books; they will be waiting for you in your classroom. Good day."

Holly got up beaming at the old wizard seated in front of her and headed for the door. Just as she was crossing the threshold, she paused and cast a worried glance back into the room.

"If you ever find yourself to be in need of direction," said Professor Dumbledore suddenly, as if reading her thoughts, "a good "point me" spell always does the trick for me."

Holly smiled her thanks to the Headmaster and hurried back down the staircase and into the hall… and right smack into a person.

Markus Flint was on his way back to the Slytherin Common Room to get some quills that he had forgotten, which had cost him five House Points from Professor Flitwick. He had remembered that there was a secret passage that would take him straight to the Great Hall nearby. He turned down the hall where the Headmasters' study was and made for the curtains which hung at the far end. He was halfway down it when someone came flying out from behind the gargoyle and collided head on with him. Flint managed to keep his balance, but whoever it was fell in a heap on the ground.

"Watch where you're walking you slug-" he stopped.

Flint stared at the girl looking up at him from the floor. Then looked back down the hall, it was deserted. Looking back to the girl once more, he bit his lip and took a breath. This definitely cannot be found out, he thought.

"Oh, sorry," he finally managed to stammer out.

The girl raised her eyebrows at him, and then turned her attention to getting herself up off the floor. She tried to straighten her legs, but got tangled up in her robes and just managed to get half up before falling back down again.

"You sure are clumsy for a Gryffindor," said Flint, "here, don't embarrass yourself."

He held out a hand. The girl took it gratefully and Flint pulled her up. Then he just stood there. Come on Flint, he said to himself, pull yourself together, she's a Gryffindor for gods sake, just being seen with her can get you in trouble. But he knew that she was special, his hand was still tingling.

"You're new right?" he asked.

The girl nodded.

"What's your name?"

The girl started looking through her pockets. This confused Flint, why wasn't she answering him?

"I said, what is your name?" he said again.

The girls' search of her robes became more frantic. Finally she pulled out a quill. As Flint stared, she scribbled out something on a schedule she was carrying and held it out to him.

"Holly Hawk?" he read.

The girl nodded.

"Well you could've just told me," muttered Flint.

Holly just shook her head, glanced at him for a moment, then smiled sadly and walked away down the hall.

Flint stood there, staring after her for a moment, and then he spun around and made for the curtain.

Well that didn't go as planned, thought Flint, but it could've been worse. At least I know her name.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

When Holly rounded the corner, she pressed herself up against the wall. Whoa… Holly didn't know what to think. That was interesting wasn't it Keira? the little dragon scratched her neck with a silver claw. Well, it doesn't matter; I don't even know his name.

Holly restarted her way down the hall, realised she didn't know where she was going, and stopped. What did Professor Dumbledore say, Keira? A point-me spell?

Holly held her wand out in front of her and thought "Point me".

Her wand lurched out of her hand, spun around a few times in the air in front of her, then settled down. It was pointing back the way she had just come.

Oh dear, thought Holly, I hope he's not there.

She slowly peeked around the corner. The boy was just standing there staring into space. Suddenly he turned and walked to the curtain at the end of the hall, lifted it, and disappeared behind it.

Holly blinked. There were secret passages here? She approached the curtain and lifted it to reveal a small passage way, softly lit with a few torches in brackets along the wall. The boy was just disappearing around a corner at the end of it. Holly hesitated, she redid the point me spell. Her wand spun around once again and stopped in a direction not completely off the passage way. Good enough thought Holly, and she slowly entered the passage. She did not want to have another awkward encounter like the last one.

After multiple wrong turns and a few more discovered passage ways, Holly arrived at her Transfiguration class. She quietly opened the door and took a seat at the back of the class. The professor noticed her enter.

"Miss Hawk, lateness is not tolerated, even on your first day, three points from Gryffindor. Your books are over there. Please turn to page three: A study on the transmogrification of inanimate objects."

Holly quickly grabbed her books from a shelf and sat back down, her face flushed crimson. She had already cost her house points and the first day had barley even started. I'm already a disgrace to Hogwarts, she thought. Keira licked Holly behind her ear. Awww thanks Keira, Holly thought, you are so sweet. Holly turned her attention to the page that Professor McGonagall had told her to read. Her mouth dropped, it was full of graphs, charts and tables showing what would happen if you tried to transfigure something. Oh wait, thought Holly. She looked at the pages again. I've seen these before, in a book in Flourish and Blotts. Holly flipped through the book. She'd read this already. Holly looked through the other books she'd been given. I've read these ones too, she thought, well this is going to be easier than I thought.

For the rest of the class, Professor McGonagall taught them how to transfigure toothpicks into needles. It was a warm up class to give them time to remember all the basics. They would be moving on to more advanced spells next class.

Holly had a little trouble with the wand movement at first, but after the third or fourth try, she'd managed to get her toothpick shiny enough and pointy enough to be called a needle.

"Good job Miss Hawk," said Professor McGonagall, "you have earned those three points back."

Holly beamed up at her Professor. She'd fixed her mistake.

Next was Potions. Holly heard some other students say that they had potions too, and complaining about the professor, so she followed them down to the dungeons. It was dank and dark down there and reminded her of Nocturne Alley. As Holly entered the classroom, she noticed Harry, Hermione and Ron already seated at tables near the other side of the room. She gave a little wave and made her way across to them.

"Hey, we haven't seen you all morning," Hermione greeted her with a smile.

Holly nodded and sat down beside Ron.

"Is this your first time with Snape?" asked Ron.

Holly nodded again.

"Boy, are you in for a treat," said Harry, "let's just hope that he doesn't find out that you don't talk."

Holly shot a nervous glance towards the front of the class, where Professor Snape had just entered, his black cloak floating out behind him, making him look like an overgrown bat.

"You will be making Shrinking Solution's today," he flicked his wand, "your instructions are on the board, go."

And with that he swept off around the classroom.

Well that was a wonderful introduction, thought Holly. She turned her attention to the board, so a shrinking solution is it? I can do that, right Keira? she was answered with a quiet rustle.

Holly got to work and soon had her potion bubbling pleasantly and giving off a smell of slightly singed cinnamon. Ron's, on the other hand, was sluggishly oozing around his cauldron in a thick purple mass. Ron was frantically trying to bring it back to the pinkish red he'd had a few minutes ago, but was only succeeding in making it blacker. Snape's progress through the class and snarky retorts, which could be heard all around the class, probably weren't helping. As Snape got closer and closer to their side of the room, Ron got more and more frantic. Holly reached out and tapped his shoulder. When Ron turned, she handed him a small bottle of turmeric.

"What's this?" Ron eyed the bottle.

Holly pointed to his cauldron and made a stirring motion. Ron shrugged and added the bottles' contents into his potion. As he stirred, his potion slowly turned orange and thinned out. Ron's eyes widened and he mouthed "thank you" back at Holly. She smiled and went back to her potion. She knew that nothing could completely save Ron's potion, but now he would at least get some marks for it.

"Weasley, I didn't know you were cheating off another student now?" a sneering voice came from the table behind them.

The four of them turned to see Draco Malfoy and his two body guards leering at them.

"You just wish she was helping you out, Malfoy," scoffed Harry.

Malfoy's cheeks turned just a hint of pink and he glared at Harry.

"Better watch out Granger, Hawk might just steal your thunder," taunted Draco.

Holly blushed and shook her head; she knew Hermione was much better than her. Draco glanced at her then looked behind him.

"Professor," he called, "Weasley's cheating,"

Snape walked over and looked into Ron's cauldron.

"This is obviously much higher than your normal grade of potion Weasley," Snape sneered, "five points from Gryffindor for not providing original work."

"But sir," said Ron desperately, "it wasn't someone else's work, I just added something to fix my potion."

"And what was this something?" asked Snape.

"I…I don't know sir… Holly gave it to me…," sighed Ron.

Snape turned his attention to Holly.

"Well this must be our new third year," Snape, "What did you give Wealsey, Miss Hawk?"

Holly held out the bottle.

"Turmeric?" Snape sounded a bit suprised, "And what made you think to use this?"

Holly pointed to the slug brains and then to the crushed bicorn horn. Snape just stared at her.

"Umm… she doesn't talk much, professor," murmured Hermione, "I think she means that it balances the mix of too much slug brains with too little bicorn horn."

"Yes Miss Granger, I know perfectly well what Miss Hawk was trying to say," snapped Snape, "It would do better if Miss Hawk told me herself. Five points from Gryffindor."

Holly felt both guilty and defiant at the professor's statement. Hermione didn't have to translate for her, she could manage by herself. But no, she could not tell the professor herself. She wasn't going to talk. Not to anyone, not until she had closure, not until she could trust someone again. But that didn't give any reason to dock points. Holly was beginning to think that Professor Snape was a bit biased. Meanwhile, Snape had moved on to check another boy's cauldron. Harry, Ron and Hermione were all looking at her with sympathetic faces.

"It only gets worse from here on in," warned Harry.

Holly shrugged, her cauldron was about to boil over and demanded more of her attention than the possibility of future harassment.

Despite the rough start, the rest of the class passed smoothly. As well as lunch, charms class and herbology. By the time dinner rolled around, Holly was ready to crawl into bed and sleep forever. As she walked into the Great Hall the sweet smell of pumpkin pie wafted over her and her stomach growled very loudly. She started to make her way over to the Gryffindor table but stopped about half way there, the hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end; she felt someone's eyes on her. She turned, slowly searching the crowd of students. Her eyes fell on the Slytherin table, she saw Malfoy and his friends, a group of girls poring over a magazine, and then she saw the boy she had run into this morning outside Professor Dumbledore's study. None of them were watching her though. Holly shrugged and continued on her way to the Gryffindor table to commence stuffing her face with delicious food. Her first day had been an overall success.

Markus Flints' eyes found Holly as soon as she entered the Great Hall. She looked quite worn out, but she was still smiling. He had never enjoyed seeing someone smile like this before. Something is wrong with you, he thought to himself, you shouldn't be thinking about Gryffindors. He shot a glance at Malfoy, who was seated a few spaces down from him. Although I don't think I'm the only one, he remarked.

"Hey Malfoy," he shouted down the table, "Guess who came down to eat."

Malfoy glanced at the door. He must have seen Holly because when he turned back, he got up and moved towards Flint.

"What do you think you're doing? Do you want everyone to think we're soft?" his voice was scathing.

"You think about status too much, Malfoy," scoffed Flint.

"And you don't?" asked Malfoy, "I know you don't have family status, Flint, but surely you know that Gryffindors do not deserve a noble Slytherins' attention."

Flint cast a glance over to the Gryffindor table again. Holly had sat next to one of those idiotic Weasley twins. Well at least they didn't seem to be talking, he thought. Turning his attention back to Draco, he fully understood the dangers of what he (and he was pretty sure what Draco too) was thinking.

"Just don't be too obvious about it Malfoy, even I can tell what you're thinking," Flint smirked and went back to his pie.

Malfoy stalked back to his seat and sat there fuming. Flint laughed and reached for another piece of pie.

But throughout dinner, he kept glancing over at Holly. When she finally stood up to leave, he left his half eaten dessert on his plate and hurried out of the Great Hall before her. He didn't really have to hurry; she was taking her sweet time making her way out of the Great Hall. Flint positioned himself behind one of the hog statues by the entrance. As soon as he saw Holly was clear of the entrance so everyone inside wouldn't see him, he started walking at a brisk pace perpendicular to her. Second time's a charm, he thought, and he clipped her arm as he walked by.

Rounding on her he said, "Watch out Hawk! If I didn't know any better, I'd think you just can't keep away from me." He smirked.

She blushed and looked confused. Flint looked away so the urge to smile wasn't too overpowering; she was so cute.

Holly made a little curtsy, nodded and smiled at him, then made to walk away. He grabbed her arm.

"Hey! Not even an apology?" he was a little startled by her reaction.

She gave him a pleading look and then she put her hand on his arm and squeezed a little. Flint snatched his arm back and quickly scanned the entrance hall for people. There were a few Hufflepuffs going up the stairs, but they were looking the other way, and there was no one coming out of the Great Hall. He looked back at Holly. Her face was downcast and she looked hurt.

Damn it! Thought Flint, Now I've gone and hurt her feelings.

"Sorry," he mumbled, "It's just that Slytherins aren't supposed to talk to Gryffindors, let alone touch them."

And with that he turned and walked down the stairway towards the dungeons.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Flint lay in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. For the past hour he'd been trying to sort out all the emotions he'd been feeling all day. He'd never felt like this before. On the other hand maybe he was finally feeling normal after years of feeling like the world was constantly ending.

Flint hadn't been doing well in school. In fact he'd been doing so poorly that he had actually failed for the past two years. This was supposed to be his last year at Hogwarts but he was still taking fifth year courses. He had been working for four straight summers to pay for his new broom and to save up for a place of his own. He couldn't wait to get away from his family. They idolized his older brother and completely ignored him. He had always done his own thing, no one ever cared. That's partly why he had failed for two years in a row. But it hadn't been completely for attention, he had actually been having trouble with some classes. The only reaction he'd gotten from his father was a scarce, almost inaudible comment when he read the letter saying Flint was to repeat his fifth year a second time.

"Well at least schooling is free these days."

Those were the cherished words that had been the first uttered in years that even remotely concerned him.

Flint hadn't felt anything but anger, frustration and sadness for longer than should be necessary for anyone. Maybe he'd just finally gotten tired of it all and had begun to loosen up.

No that can't be it, he thought, I don't think I've ever felt this way.

His hand and his arm had been warm ever since Holly had touched them. He couldn't get her face out of his head. The way she walked and the way she flipped her hair out of her eyes was perfect. The only thing that seemed odd to him was that she hadn't said a word to him. Usually if you bump into someone twice in one day you at least say sorry (even if the second time had been his fault). Maybe he'd talk to Draco about it again. He didn't care whether Malfoy thought he'd gone soft or not, mostly because he had a suspicion that Malfoy also had feelings for Holly Hawk. A small spike of jealousy arose in him as he thought this. Wow Flint, he thought, getting possessive already are we? He got up and made his way to the common room.

Draco was sitting on one of the couches by the fire in the Slytherin common room reading some pages for Transfiguration when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Got time, Malfoy?" he heard a drawling voice behind him.

"Good God Flint," Malfoy sneered, "you really love talking to me don't you."

"Shut up," barked Flint, "I need some information."

This caught Draco's attention, Flint wanting information from him? They'd barely ever spoken before, even at quidditch practise.

"Really? Well then what do you want?"

Flint, after checking the common room for stragglers, sat down across from him and folded his arms.

"You seem to know more about this Hawk girl than most people," he started cautiously, keeping an eye on Malfoy's reaction.

Malfoy stiffened a little and closed his book. Not again, thought Draco, I don't want to talk about her with you, why are you so interested anyways? The last part he said out loud.

"Why are you so interested anyways?"

"She ran into me twice today and didn't even say sorry," recounted Flint, "Isn't that a little weird? Gryffindors are supposed to be all proper and what not."

What?! Malfoy couldn't believe it, he had only seen her at dinner and Flint had actually had contact with her twice today?! How in hell was this fair?

"She doesn't talk, idiot," spat Draco, "everyone knows that."

"Wait, like, she can't talk at all?" Flint gaped.

Draco relished the fact that he still knew more about Holly than anyone so far.

"No she can talk, she just chooses not to."

"Oh," said Flint, "Why?"

Draco didn't want to answer any more questions and give Flint more information on Holly. He didn't have the right to know about her.

"I don't know, how would I," he retorted, "Go away, I need to finish this."

"Fine, jeez, don't go all Granger on me," Flint got up any went back to the dormitories.

Draco opened up his book, but he couldn't read it now. Damn you Flint, he thought, now I can't concentrate. Maybe a walk will help, I need to think anyways.

Draco got up and made his way out into the castle. Maybe the courtyard will be empty, it's pretty late. He walked down a side hallway and up a small spiral staircase and came out into a small garden courtyard. There was a fountain gurgling away in the opposite corner and there were rose bushes everywhere. Well isn't this a little too cheery for being so close to the dungeons, he thought. Just then he heard a sound. It sort of sounded like someone was humming. He scanned the garden again. There was someone sitting by the edge of the fountain, facing away from him so he couldn't tell who it was. Draco was about to call out when the person started humming again. Sounds like a girl, thought Malfoy. He looked at the back of the persons head again. Is that Holly Hawk? He couldn't believe his luck. Take this Flint, smirked Draco. He walked quietly up behind some rose bushes and listened to the quiet humming coming from the fountain.

After a while it evolved into quiet half humming half singing, and eventually he could hear the lyrics of a song over the bubbling of the fountain. It was the most beautiful sound Malfoy had ever heard. Her voice sounded so soft and gentle. He was surprised to find himself struggling to stay awake. Draco strained his ears to try and make out what song she was singing. Her voice suits her so well; I wonder why she stopped talking, thought Draco, maybe I should ask her.

He was about to emerge from his rose bush when someone else entered the courtyard. Draco's eyes flashed and he felt the colour rising in his cheeks. What is a Weasley doing here?! He wanted to send curses flying at him, but he couldn't be noticed, not now. Draco sat glowering behind the bushes and watched the Weasley approach Holly. Well hopefully she'll be horrified by his gingerness and run away, he thought grumpily.

It was one of the twins, he could tell by the hair. The Weasley stood just inside the archway for a bit while Holly finished her song, and then approached the fountain.

"You have a beautiful voice," Draco heard above the gurgling fountain.

The effect was instantaneous.

Holly's head jerked up, she made a weird gesture, as if trying to push him away, and she made to get off the fountain ledge, got caught in her robes and fell in.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Holly," Draco could hear the Weasley's spluttered apologies loud and clear, "here let me help you."

No! Draco wanted to shout, you don't get to touch her you Weasley scum! But he looked on as Holly took the twins' outstretched hand and stumbled out of the fountain. Draco's spirits lifted, however, because as soon as she was clear of the water, Holly shook off the Weasleys' hand and sprinted out of the courtyard and disappeared.

Ha! Take that Wealsey, Draco smiled with satisfaction, she doesn't even want to be around you. Now you can leave so I can get out of this bush.

The Weasley just stood there, looking embarrassed and awkward, and then ran out the archway that Holly had gone through and down the hallway.

"Finally," groaned Draco.

He got out of the bush and walked up to the fountain ledge where Holly had been sitting. It was damp with the water that had splashed up when she had fallen in. Draco looked closer, wait what are those? He squinted at the stone. It looked like there were little footprints of some kind on the ledge. Are those claw marks? What was going on here? This was new information for Draco. He searched around the fountain but there was nothing else abnormal. Maybe I'm just being to suspicious, he thought as he returned to the dormitory and got into bed. But his mind kept working late into the night. He would find out all he could about Holly Hawk, he promised himself that at least.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Holly ran through the castle, dodging and swerving through the few crowds of students still wandering about the castle. She could still hear the sounds of George pursuing her.

If only I could lose him! Holly thought frantically, but I don't know this castle as well as The Alley's in London.

She turned into a side passage and sprinted to the other end, rounded the corner and almost hit a dead end head on.

Oh no, thought Holly.

She hurriedly turned and scanned the hallway; the only thing in the corridor was a large cabinet.

Well, I've hidden in worse places, she thought.

Holly sprang to the cabinet and quickly climbed inside. She had just closed the door when she heard someone enter the corridor.

As the person passed the cabinet, Holly caught a glimpse of red hair.

Why are you still following me George? thought Holly as she leaned against the back of the cabinet.

A few seconds later she saw the red hair pass by going the other way and the hallway was silent.

Holly crept back out into the hallway and quietly closed the door. She leaned against the side of the cabinet and used a drying spell on her robes.

She was so embarrassed, now George had heard her singing; she hoped desperately that he wouldn't tell anyone. She had a feeling he wouldn't say anything. She only sung once in a while, when she was lonely or sad, or really happy. When she needed to express her feelings or couldn't keep them pent up inside anymore.

I need to find a nice private, secret place for us Keira, she thought.

Holly was suddenly jerked out of her thoughts by the cabinet giving way. She succeeded in keeping her balance this time though. That's better, thought Holly, I'm finally getting used to these robes. I was never this clumsy back in London.

Holly turned her attention back to the cabinet. Her weight had pushed it sideways, just enough to reveal a part of a door.

Well this is interesting, thought Holly.

She pushed the cabinet the rest of the way to uncover the door completely. It was a narrow, wood panelled door with a lion head knocker and a ring handle.

Well I might as well get to know the castle now, right Keira?, her necklace rattled in response. Holly took the handle and pulled the door open to reveal a passageway. There are so many passages here Keira, we're going to have so much fun exploring them! Holly thought excitedly.

As soon as she stepped into the passage, however, the door slammed closed behind her and she heard a grating sound and knew that the cabinet had replaced itself.

Maybe I should be more cautious, she thought, well now there's nowhere to go but forward.

And with that, she made her way up the dimly lit passageway.

It was longer than any of the other passages she'd discovered that day and she was just starting to wonder if she should start to jog, when she came upon the end of the passage. It was just a square panel with a small knob on it. She grabbed the knob and pushed, nothing happened. Oh, thought Holly. This time she pulled. The door swung inwards and she stepped out into a corridor. Now where am I, she thought, I should really have gotten a map. She turned and looked at where she had just emerged. The door she'd opened seemed to be on the back of a painting of the ocean. Holly let it close and then ran her hand over the frame. About a quarter of the way up the right side, there was a small notch in the wood. When Holly pulled on this, the picture dropped a little and the door opened again. There, she thought, now I can find you again.

Holly now turned her attention to the corridor, at the moment it was deserted, but she could hear a lot of voices coming from around the far corner. Well I guess I'll go that way, she thought.

As Holly rounded the corner, she entered a much larger corridor that was quite busy. Trying not to get caught up in the flow of students, she stood against the wall and looked around.

One end of the corridor ended in a bend so she turned her attention to the other end, and her heart skipped a beat. The library! She almost squealed aloud. Holly quickly made her way over to the entrance of the library and slipped into the quiet and peaceful atmosphere.

Now she was in a place where she could feel confident. Holly quickly scanned the front area and found the index shelf. As she approached it, she glanced around the rest of the area. It wasn't a big space, but it was roomy, and you could tell that it had at least twice the amount of books that the store in Diagon Alley had. She couldn't wait to read them all! Holly reached the index table and rifled through the cards, looking for a book about paintings. She wanted to know who had done that ocean one that guarded the secret passage. While she was busy looking through the index cards, she didn't hear someone coming up behind her.

"So you found the library alright then?" said Hermione.

Holly jumped, but then turned and smiled and nodded.

"This is probably my favourite place in the castle," continued Hermione, "I just love books."

Holly's eyes brightened and she nodded her agreement.

"Well, I was just going to go back to the dormitory because I've finished here, would you like to come with me?" offered Hermione.

Holly thought, and then nodded. She could find the name of the painting another day, and she should learn her way around the castle first.

She followed Hermione out of the library and back through the castle to the portrait hole to the Gryffindor common room.

As soon as the portrait hole closed behind them, a ginger flash whizzed between Hermione's legs and bounced off Holly's thigh before turning and hissing back the way it had come.

"Crookshanks!" exclaimed Hermione, "what are you doing you silly cat."

She picked up the frantic cat and he slowly quieted in her arms.

"Here," Hermione held the cat out to Holly, "this is Crookshanks. He's been a bit on edge, but he is really sweet."

Holly rubbed the now purring animal between his ears and smiled as he closed his eyes in pleasure.

"He likes you," smiled Hermione, "and speaking of gingers that like you…" she added, flicking her head to point behind Holly.

Oh no! thought Holly, not George!

She turned around, but was relieved to see that it was Fred coming over to them. She waved and smiled.

"Hey Holly, Hermione," he greeted them. "Have either of you seen George?"

They both shook their heads, Holly a little more vigorously.

"The last I saw him was at dinner," said Hermione, "it's weird seeing you two apart. You look so much taller without your better half." She teased.

Fred just smirked, "I always get all the girls attention when he's gone."

They laughed and Holly smiled with them.

"Well if you see him, just tell him I have his potions homework and he's not getting it back until he pays up," said Fred, as he made his way to the boys' dormitories.

Thinking of the dormitories made Holly yearn for the comfort of her bed. I've had a long day, she thought absentmindedly to Keira, plus I should get out of here before George does show up. She waved to Hermione, who was moving to sit in one of the chairs by the fire, and followed Fred up to the dormitories.

After quickly changing in to her new night gown, she unclipped Keira and let her play in the bed sheets for a little while and read a few chapters from her History of Magic textbook. Soon, however, the book slipped from her hands and Holly was fast asleep.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

George Weasley slowly made his way back to the Gryffindor Tower. He was tired from chasing Holly and frustrated that he had lost her. He was so busy thinking about the events that had lead up to the chase that he didn't hear Fred approaching from behind until it was too late. Fred whacked him in the back of his head with a slipper and then jumped on him, pinning him to the ground so quickly that George had no time to react.

"What?" whined Fred, "You didn't even try to fight? This wasn't even payback, you louse."

He got up and helped George to his feet.

"I was just thinking," said George, "and when do you need any payback? What did I do?"

"You, my good sir, have not given me my galleon for proof reading you potions essay," stated Fred, his arms crossed in front of his chest and sticking out his lips into a pout.

"You haven't even given me my potions essay," smirked George, "how will I know you deserve this galleon?" as he said this he took the coin from his pocket and flipped it into the air.

Fred made a dive to intercept the coin as it fell downwards. While he did so, George grabbed the paper that was poking out of his twin brothers' pocket.

"A fair trade," laughed Fred as he caught the coin and pocketed it, "Well now that my business is done, I think I'll turn in."

He started back towards the dormitories.

"I'll be up in a second," George called after him.

When he heard the dormitory door close, George made his way over to the chairs in front of the fire and sank into the closest one.

What an evening, he thought. He hadn't been "following" Holly, per say, he was just curious to find out more about her, and since nobody else knew anything and she didn't talk, there was only one way to do that.

He had seen her leave the Great Hall and he had quickly finished his pie and followed. When he had gotten through the doors, he saw her going up the stairs and so he had followed her. She seemed to be just exploring because she has wandering and looking at all the paintings and sculptures and opening all the doors she could. Now that he thought about it, it kind of seemed like she was looking for something. He had followed her until she had made her way to the courtyard garden on the first floor. He could tell that she really liked the roses because she stopped to smell them and even picked one. He had watched as she sat down on the edge of the fountain and placed the rose blossom on the water. As she had held her hand over it, it changed from red, to white, to purple and then closed up tight and then reopened. But this time, instead of purple, the blossom was silver and had white spirals twisting themselves into patterns all over the petals.

George sighed in his chair. He definitely had feelings for Holly Hawk. She was the first girl that he had even taken an interest in since his third year. He could tell that she was very talented, almost as good as Hermione even, and she was very pretty. Naturally pretty, he noticed she didn't wear makeup. He wanted to know more about her. What her family was like, did she transfer here from somewhere? Why is this her third year when she has never gone here before? Why doesn't she talk? All these things and more continued to buzz around Georges mind. Then one thought came through clearer than the rest.

He remembered seeing her shift in her position on the fountain, and this blocked him from seeing what she was doing. She had been fiddling with something around her neck. Then it had looked as though she put something down on the fountain because she just sat there and watched a spot in front of her for a long while. That was the first time he had seen her really smile. Yes he'd seen her smile back at people saying hello or when someone said something funny, but this was a real smile. She seemed to be genuinely happy and it made her so beautiful. George remembered thinking about leaving her alone, but right at that moment, she had started to hum. Her voice had transfixed him, and he had just stood there, leaning against a pillar and watching her slowly start to sing. When her voice had stopped he had wanted to tell her to keep singing. Instead he had told her her voice was amazing and had made her fall into the fountain. Why did he always have to make her fall over when he spoke to her? Plus he had made her run away… that was probably the last time she would come near him. He sighed, why did girls make life so complicated?

Suddenly, a rustle of papers to his right made George jump, he hadn't known there was someone else sitting here.

He looked over to see Hermione cleaning up what looked to be a transfiguration parchment.

"Oh, hey Hermione," mumbled George, "I didn't see you there."

Hermione smiled as she packed up her bag and headed towards the dormitories, "Yes I was going to say hello, but you seemed to be thinking about something… or someone," she added as she disappeared up the stairs.

George blushed towards the fire, was it really that obvious, he thought. He got up and went to join his twin and the other boys in fifth year in the dormitory. Maybe they'll have something to distract me, he thought. Then he shook his head, there was no way he could stop thinking about Holly Hawk.

The rest of the week passed like blur for Holly. She wasn't late again, thanks to Hermione's guidance, and she managed to avoid any direct contact with George.

On the weekend, she was summoned again to Professor Dumbledore's office for an update.

All he had was good news, however, because as soon as she entered his office he rose to greet her.

"You seem to be doing well in all your classes, Miss Hawk; I see no reason why you can't continue in them."

This made Holly quite happy. She could stay with her new friends and not have to start all over again.

"Are you getting along well with all your professors?" he asked.

She nodded that she was.

"Because I have noted, as well as most of the students, that you have not spoken a word since you came here."

Holly blushed and lowered her head, but nodded.

"And you are still able to communicate well enough in class, even when asked a question?" Professor Dumbledore continued to press her.

She shrugged, she thought she did well enough, plus they had stopped asking her as many questions so she didn't really have to answer.

"Well, Professor Snape has asked me to put you in a higher year class because he says you are an exceptional potion brewer. Would you like this?"

Holly raised her eyebrows. Snape thought she was that good? What? He did not like her very much. She shook her head.

"No? You would like to stay in the third year class?" confirmed Professor Dumbledore.

Holly nodded, she wanted to stay with her friends.

"Well in that case, he would like you to help tutor some of the students who are struggling in the class." His eyes stayed locked on her while he spoke. His gaze made Holly fidgeted uncomfortably in her seat.

"If it is too much for you at the moment you can decline, my dear," said Dumbledore.

But Holly was already nodding.

"Oh wonderful, you are to report to Professor Snapes' office at 6 o'clock next Friday to receive your student." His eyes twinkled as he added, "I hope you have a wonderful year Miss Hawk, I will check in now and again to see how you are faring, but I know you will do well."

She smiled awkwardly and stood.

"Oh, and one more thing, Miss Hawk," Dumbledore stood also, "There is a quiet place on the fifth floor, if you are able to find the door."

And with that he retreated into the back room of his office.

Holly stood there, mulling over all that she had just heard.

So she was supposed to be a tutor to someone because Professor Snape thought she was good at potions. Well I think I can handle that, right Keira? And what was that last part about a quiet place on the fifth floor. Well I don't have any classes right now so let's go check that out.

As Holly made her way up to the fifth floor, her mind was buzzing with questions. Why was Snape so mean to her and then say she was good enough to teach other students? Did everyone at the school really talk about her? What was she going to find on the fifth floor… if she found the door… whatever that meant?

As Holly entered the fifth floor corridor, she noticed that there was only one picture hanging half way down the hall. She walked over to it and saw a group of what looked like battle trolls sitting around a muddy clearing. Well this is not a quiet place, she thought, and continued down to the other end of the corridor. The only thing at that end was a stairway back down to the fourth floor.

Holly turned again and looked down the corridor. There is nothing else in this hallway, she thought. She started back towards the painting again. Did Dumbledore mean that this hallway was just a quiet place?

Making her way to the corner she had come from, she glanced around just to make sure there wasn't a door there. Her necklace twisted a little bit. Well he said that I would have to "find" the door Keira, thought Holly as she tapped one of the tiny, folded wings, that implies that it's hidden. Maybe it has something to do with the trolls in that painting. Holly whirled around once again and went over to the painting. She squinted her eyes as she tried to look for a little door hidden in the painting. After a while of not finding anything and since the awkward looks the trolls were giving her, sighed and took a step back.

Well Keira, she thought, maybe there aren't any quiet places here.

Just then, there was a small popping sound behind her. Holly turned quickly and blinked in surprise. There, on what had only minutes before, been a blank wall, was a door. It was slightly narrow, with deep red wood panelling and a small black knob. Holly let out a little gasp; this castle really is full of secrets. Just then she heard some shuffling coming from the painting, turning again, she saw that one of the trolls, the largest one, had gotten up and was now standing at the front of the painting.

"That door only appears to those who need something and walk by it three times while thinking of the thing that they need." He spoke as if he had said this more times than he would like to, in a grating, raspy voice.

Then he retreated back to the circle of the other trolls and sat down. Holly glanced at the bottom of the painting and saw a little note. It read: "The Guarding of the Door"-1734, Alfred the Elder, troll emissary.

Oh that makes sense then, thought Holly, they guard this secret door as well as whatever one is in the painting.

Turning her attention back to the door, she crossed the corridor. Glancing around to make sure there were no other students coming, she turned the little black knob. It squeaked a little as she did so, but the door opened smoothly and silently. With another quick glance into the corridor, Holly stepped through the doorway and closed the door behind her.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The room that Holly entered was the most amazing room she had ever seen.

Its ceiling vaulted up so high that some areas were in darkness. And that was saying something because there were large windows lining the walls on two sides, flooding the room with early morning light. The floor was polished so well that it was almost a mirror.

Holly stood there with her mouth hanging open. She looked around the room. There were a few comfortable looking chairs on a rug beside a large bookshelf. She quickly ran over and scanned the shelves. All these books were new to her and they sounded fascinating. There was a book about the history of dragons, one that had the title "Dining with Duke: Recipes for All Royal Occasions", and she even spotted a small book about healing potions.

"These are wonderful Keira," gasped Holly, her voice a little raspy from disuse, "just have a look at them!"

She unclasped the little dragon and put her charms into her pouch. As soon as she was free of the charms, Keira spread her little wings and took off. Soaring up into the vaulted ceiling and let loose a cascade of roars and yips that, as they echoed, sounded like water running over rocks. The little dragon zoomed all over the room, doing loop-the-loops and flips while Holly looked on.

As Holly watched her little friend enjoy the first real freedom she'd had since arriving at Hogwarts, it slowly dawned on her that she too, for the first time in a long time, was free.

She didn't have to worry about people seeing her, or about what they would think. She was all alone here, like she had been in her shelter in Nocturne Alley.

Happiness bubbled up inside her so fast that she actually let out a small laugh. At this sound, Keira flew in closer and nipped Holly's hair as she flew by. Holly moved further into the room as she watched Keira continue her air dances. Looking at the only other wall that was not occupied by windows, Holly stopped mid stride and stared. Then she broke into a run and made it to the corner so fast that she skidded a little when she stopped. There, in front of her, its ivory keys shining in all their glory, was a grand piano.

Tears came to Holly's eyes as she touched the keys.

She had always loved music. There was a muggle music store owner, whose shop was just beside the Leaky Cauldron, who had been kind enough to give her a few lessons. She had taken her earnings from her deliveries and had half of them traded for muggle money at Gringotts Bank so she could pay for her lessons. Mr. Twick, the owner, had seen potential in her when she had visited his shop the first time and she had played a small piece that Lila had taught her on one of the display pianos. He had said that he would teach her some theory. Holly had loved those lessons so much. She had excelled so fast, that Mr. Twick had shown her some of the more complex pieces that he had and told her to memorize them, and that if she could within a couple weeks, then he would give her all the sheet music for all her lessons for free. Holly had practiced diligently for a week and a half on a board that she'd painted up to look like a keyboard. By the time of their last lesson, which was the day that Holly had received her Hogwarts letter, she had played them flawlessly for her teacher and he had proudly handed over a nicely bound book full of the music she had learned from him.

Holly remembered his last words that day.

"Here, my dear," he had said, "These are all of your lessons. Take special care of them and you will never stop learning from them."

She had gone back to his shop before she had left for Hogwarts, but there was a closed sign on the door and a sold sign hanging from the window. He hadn't told her he was selling, but she knew that he would be happy wherever he was going; he was such a nice man. She would miss him and his lessons dearly though.

True to her unspoken word, she had been keeping special care of her music, wrapping it in her only spare clothes in her bag among her bottles of potions.

She did not have the book with her at the moment; it was safe in her room. But she knew them all by heart anyways and her fingers were itching to play.

She thrust out the stool and sat down, her fingers hovering over the keys. Holly stayed like this for a few more seconds, just enjoying the feeling. Then she brought her hands down to meet the keys and the notes rang out clear and sweet. They filled the room and rose up into the ceiling. Keira swooped down and landed on the piano in front of Holly and lay down.

Holly played and played. She went through all her lesson music and then some of the music that she had taken from popular songs; she played through classical canons and lullabies. She played until her fingers ached and her hands couldn't stretch out any more. When the last notes rang out, high up in that ceiling, she sat there, eyes closed, absorbing the feeling of release, of freedom. As she sat there, her lips parted and she started to sing a lullaby that Lila had sung to her when the storms had sent her running into their bedroom.

_Hush, hush, my little one_

_Be not afraid to face the night_

_It's dark and full of shadows, yes_

_But without dark, there is no light_

_There must be both, my little one_

_Together they hold all steady_

_So hush, hush, my little one_

_You will understand when ready_

_Be not afraid my little one, do not shed one tear_

_They are entwined, each with the other_

_Like the hook who needs the eye_

_Like the child that needs the mother_

_One day you will see, my child_

_That one cannot just leave,_

_The other would have no greater purpose_

_With these thoughts, you must believe _

This song, more than anything, had taught Holly not to judge. Everyone had a purpose, even if it was not a nice one. And there was always a balance to find and keep.

Holly felt so much better now. She did not want to leave this room, but she didn't know how long she had been in here and it wouldn't do to be out after hours.

"Come on Keira," she said as she stretched her hand out to the little dragon still sitting on the piano, "we should go now. But don't worry. We'll come back soon, now that we know where to go."

Keira stretched herself out and Holly put the charms back onto her and wrapped the dragon around her neck.

As she put her hand on the door knob, Holly cast one last longing glance back into the room and sighed. I'll be back soon, she thought as she opened the door and stepped out.

As soon as the door closed, it disappeared into the wall. Holly gave a small nod to the trolls in the painting and started down the corridor. It wasn't until she was halfway down a staircase that she realised that all the torches were lit and it was very silent.

Uh oh, she thought, I hope that it isn't past bedtime.

Taking extra care to be silent, Holly hurried along a corridor towards a passage that she knew would take her directly to the seventh floor. Half way to the pig statue that the passage was behind, Holly heard muffled footsteps approaching around the opposite corner. Oh no! She thought, I need to get to the statue! Holly ran silently to the statue and hid behind it. She was about to open the secret passage way when someone came around to corner and into her corridor.

Holly stayed hidden behind the statue and waited for whoever it was to walk passed. As the footsteps grew closer and closer, Holly held her breath. Then the footsteps stopped right in front of the statue. Holly's heart was pounding so loudly she was sure that whoever it was could hear her. She stood still and silent, hoping beyond hope that she wasn't about to be found out and expelled.

Suddenly, she heard a voice say, "Just as I remember", and a man appeared around the edge of the statue. He was dressed in clothes that looked more like rags and his chest, which was clearly visible through is torn shirt, was covered in tattoos. Holly was still frozen in place when his hollow, sunken eyes found hers. Holly blinked, she recognized this man from the newspaper; it was Sirius Black.

Her eyes widened in alarm as she saw his hand move towards his pocket, looking for his wand. Quick as a flash, she had hers out and they stood there pointing their wands at each other.

"You're not going to yell for help?" asked Black, in a slightly taunting way, as if he was daring her to.

Holly shook her head, but kept her eyes fixed on the man before her.

"Well then why don't you jinx me? I am a wanted murderer after all," He gestured at her wand with his own.

Holly shook her head again, keeping up the staring contest.

After a few seconds, Sirius Black took a step back and looked her up and down, lowering his wand.

"Well, if I am not going to be found out, and you aren't going to turn me in, which is stupid I might add," he said with a slight smile, " then might I enquire as to who your parents are? You look awfully familiar…" he trailed off.

Holly blinked. This was a strange turn of events. She was so shocked that her wand lowered without her noticing. Here she was, face to face with a brutal murderer, and he was asking about her parents. Did this man know her real parents? Wouldn't that be a twist, she thought.

Recovering enough to answer, she slowly shook her head.

Sirius Black stared hard at her again, then, without warning, raised his wand and shot a curse at her.

Holly thanked her lucky stars that Olivander had trained her how to duel properly. It was her reflexes that shot her hand upwards to block the spell shot at her at point blank range.

"Ha!" laughed Black, "you are definitely –"

Just then there was a noise from around the far corner of the corridor. Sirius Blacks head snapped around, and then he jumped out from behind the statue and disappeared down the corridor, away from the sound.

Holly stood there, stunned. What had just happened? She slumped against the pig statue, what had just happened?

But she didn't have time to contemplate just now, there were more footsteps approaching.

Holly remained still as, once again, footsteps approached her hiding place. She crossed her fingers but luck didn't seem to be with her tonight, because once again, the footsteps stopped right in front of the statue.

This time, a voice said "What a fitting statue for Gryffindor," and Draco Malfoy appeared around the statue. He had a piece of parchment in his hand and was busy looking at it, so Holly was unnoticed as of yet.

"The brick marked with a feather…" he muttered as he looked up, and then stopped.

This is turning into quite the night, thought Holly as she waved embarrassingly at Malfoy. He quickly hid the parchment behind his back and looked quite flustered.

"Oh, hello Hawk… what are you doing here after hours?"

Holly raised her eyebrow at him, was he really asking her that?

Malfoy shrugged his shoulders and looked around awkwardly. Holly sighed and put her wand back into her robes.

"Why did you have that out?" Malfoy asked.

Holly shrugged her shoulders and gestured at the corridor.

"Are you that paranoid?" Malfoy sniggered.

Holly nodded.

"Oh," Malfoy looked surprised, "well you really don't have to be, Hogwarts is the safest place there is, except your own house I suppose."

Holly shook her head; Hogwarts wasn't as safe as Malfoy thought it was. But Draco took her response differently.

"What, your house isn't safe?" he inquired.

Holly blinked but then shook her head. No, Nocturne Alley was not safe at all, she thought.

"Really?" Malfoy looked curious, "Well where do you live?"

Holly lowered her head a little, yes she was ashamed of where she had lived, but she fished through her robes for a quill and parchment. After scribbling out "Nocturne Alley", she showed the parchment to Draco.

His eyes widened when he had finished reading.

"Wait, you lived on the street?" his voice sounded scathing, but there was a hint of something else too, pity.

Holly's head lowered even more and her face turned beet red. Without further notice, she whirled around and tapped a brick with a small indent of a phoenix feather in the bottom corner. A section of the wall slid open to reveal a passage. Without looking back at Draco, Holly hurried into the passage and up to the Gryffindor Tower.

As Holly collapsed into her bed and wrapped herself up in her covers, the full meaning of what she had just experienced hit her. She sat bolt upright and scribbled on another piece of parchment. Jumping out of bed, she went over to Hermione and woke her.

"Holly is that you?" Hermione mumbled, still half asleep.

Holly shoved the piece of parchment into Hermione's hands and lit her wand so she could read it.

Hermione stared at the parchment between her hands for a few moments before she actually managed to comprehend it. Then she woke up fully.

"Why do you need to see the Headmaster?" she asked, while getting out of bed.

Holly just gave her a pleading look and motioned to the door.

"We need to wake up Professor McGonagall," whispered Hermione as they went further up the staircase to the professors' room.

As they reached the top, they saw a door marked "Head of House".

"This is it," whispered Hermione as she knocked on the door.

A few seconds later, the door opened and Professor McGonagall emerged, dressed in a nightgown and cap.

"Yes, what is it Miss Granger, Miss Hawk," she said tersely, "make it quick, there are those of us that need our beauty sleep."

"Holly says she needs to see the Headmaster, Professor," said Hermione, and Holly nodded.

"Oh she told you did she?" said Professor McGonagall with a raised eyebrow.

"Well no, Professor," stuttered Hermione, "she wrote it out," and she showed the Professor the parchment.

After reading it, Professor McGonagall fixed Holly with her stern gaze.

"Well Miss Hawk, what exactly must you tell the Headmaster at this hour?"

Holly held out her hand for the parchment and wrote out how she had seen Sirius Black. She hesitated before handing it back to Professor McGonagall.

"Well, what is it?" Professor McGonagall prompted sharply.

Holly returned the parchment and watched McGonagall's reaction. Her face became graver and graver as she read through Holly's account of the evening.

"Are you quite certain, Miss Hawk?" the Professor fixed her with a steely gaze, "this is quite a serious turn of events."

Holly nodded.

"Well then come with me, Miss Granger you may return to bed."

Just then, a horrible scream came from the boy's dormitory, shattering the silence and waking everyone in the tower.

"Oh good griffins, what now?" muttered Professor McGonagall as sounds of movement filled the stairway. When they had reached the throng of wakened students, Professor McGonagall made her way to the front of the commotion.

"What's all this Mister Weasley?" Holly heard above the chatter of the other students.

"Ron?" gasped Hermione and pushed through the crowd.

Holly followed her and they reached to front just in time to hear Ron's explanation.

"—and I woke up and he was standing over me holding a knife!"

"Who Mister Weasley?" inquired Professor McGonagall.

"Sirius Black!" shouted Ron.

There was dead silence around the room, followed by an outbreak of small screams and intense whispers.

"How could Sirius Black get into Gryffindor Tower without a password?" a shout came from the crowd.

"We shall ask the Pink Lady," said Professor McGonagall and she move towards the portrait hole.

"Good evening," they heard the Professor say, "did you, by any chance, let a man into the Gryffindor Tower tonight?"

"Why yes I did," came the reply, students exchanged wide eyed stares, "he had the password."

"What?" replied Professor McGonagall.

"Yes he had the whole lot, all written out on a little piece of paper."

There was a moment of silence.

"Thank you," they heard Professor McGonagall say.

She returned to the common room and faced the crowd of students.

"Who left a list of the passwords out for the entire world to see?" her voice sounded like pincers.

Slowly, a hand went up, it was Neville.

"I kept forgetting them, Professor, so I made a list…" he tried to explain.

Professor McGonagall swooped down on him.

"And you lost it Mister Longbottom, and it fell into the hands of Sirius Black! 10 points from Gryffindor! Now all of you stay put while I inform the Headmaster."

After all the houses had been alerted, Professor Dumbledore sent all the students into the Great Hall to sleep. It was only a precaution, they all knew, because Sirius Black was long gone. The Great Hall was magically cleared of tables and filled with rows and rows of sleeping bags and pillows.

Holly watched as students began to get into groups and occupy sections of the Great Hall. She scanned the crowd, looking for Hermione, Ron and Harry. They must have already found a place, she thought after not finding any sign of them. She made her way around the Great Hall. The students hadn't kept to the normal house rows; there were groups of Hufflepuffs talking to groups of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws with Slytherins. She would never find her friends in this mix. Sighing, she found a sleeping bag that was unoccupied and dragged it away from all the others. Just like before, right Keira? she thought as she wiggled into the sleeping bag.

After a time, the Great Hall grew silent and snores could be heard echoing around the hall. Holly lay awake, looking up at the ceiling, which was reflecting a beautiful cloudless night sky. She found all the constellations that she could see, tracing their pictures with her finger. I wonder what it would be like to fly up there, Keira, she thought longingly, you're so lucky you can fly. The little dragon slowly unravelled herself and crawled up onto Holly's chest. Holly glanced around at the sleeping students, nobody was looking. You little daredevil you, she teased, do you want to get caught? Keira nipped her finger and pranced around Holly's tummy. Holly muffled a giggle and rolled over, sending the little dragon flipping onto the floor. Come back here you! Thought Holly as she reached out and grabbed Keira's tail. Just then there was a rustling sound behind her. Holly whipped around and raised her body to hide Keira from view.

George Weasley had made his way over to her corner, looking for a place to sleep. Holly's sudden movement had drawn his attention and he gestured at the space on the floor beside her. Holly glanced at the space herself, then nodded at George, who then settled down beside her.

After a few moments of silence, George turned onto his side and whispered,

"Listen, I'm really sorry about before, I didn't mean to scare you."

Holly kept her gaze fixed on the ceiling.

"Please don't be angry with me," continued George, "You sing really beautifully, I just wanted you to know that."

Holly turned away from him and lay facing the wall. She knew George would take this the wrong way, but she was trying to get Keira back on without him noticing. Keira snaked her way around Holly's neck and through the two loops on the charms. Once she was secure, Holly rolled around to face George.

He was looking up at the ceiling, but when she turned he looked over at her.

Holly smiled gently and made a writing motion with her hands.

"Do you want something to write with?" George asked, an eager note in his voice.

Holly nodded.

"Well, I don't have any parchment on me at the moment," Holly's smile faded, "but I do know a spell that could help you." Holly's smile lit up her face again.

"Here, you just point your wand at whatever you want to write on," he pointed his wand at the ground, "and say the spell _scribé_."

Suddenly small glowing letters were forming on the ground between them. As Holly watched, they slowly spelt "like this".

She smiled and took out her own wand. Pointing it at the ground, she thought _scribé_. The ground between them started to glow for a second time as Holly spelled out the words: just don't tell anyone, please. George looked up at her and smiled.

"I wouldn't dream of it," he whispered.

Holly smiled her thank you, then wrote it out with the scribe spell.

"That will be enough chitchat," a voice suddenly said from above them.

Holly looked upwards and saw Professor Snape looming over them.

"Students need their rest in order to prepare their minds for the next day," he turned to George, "some more than others. Five points from Gryffindor, now go to sleep the both of you."

With that he swooped off, his cloaked billowing out behind him.

"Don't mind him," whispered George, a little quieter than before, "he doesn't like us gingers."

Holly smiled again and lay on her back. The ground in between them glowed faintly one more time.

George read: the sky is so beautiful tonight. He smiled, feeling the happiest he'd felt in a while.

"Yes," he whispered, "yes, it is."

Holly slowly drifted off into a pleasant dream about soaring through the sky with Kiera at her side.

George watched her fall asleep and smiled when he saw her relax. He traced the outline of her nose and lips with his eyes. She smiled in her sleep. I hope you're having good dreams, he thought, you deserve nothing but good. He rolled onto his side so his neck wouldn't cramp and so that his body would shield her from the rest of the hall. I'll keep you safe, he thought as he drifted off to sleep.


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

That was the only night they spent in the Great Hall. After the castle had been fully searched, the students were let back into their dormitories and life had gone back to normal.

The week flew by for Holly, and before she knew it, it was time for her meeting with Professor Snape about tutoring. As she made her way down to the dungeons, she started feeling nervous. What if I'm no good at teaching, Keira, she thought hurriedly, I mean, I can't even talk to them, how will I teach? She felt a small claw grip her ear lobe and squeeze gently. Holly sighed, yes it'll be fine, I'm just getting too worked up. Holly paused before the door to the potion master's study. Here goes nothing, she thought as she raised her fist and knocked.

"Enter," she heard Professor Snapes' voice come from within.

Holly opened the door and stepped in. It was as dank and cold as the corridor outside, but filled with bottles, pickled animals and other potion ingredients piled onto shelves and tables. Professor Snape was sitting at a desk at the far end of the study. As Holly approached, he looked up from his work.

"Miss Hawk," greeted the professor, "you are here because I have asked the headmaster to grant you a tutoring position for students having difficulty mastering the art of potion making."

Holly nodded, glancing down at the desk as she did so. She felt pity for whoevers essay he was correcting; it was absolutely covered in red ink.

"Seeing as you have accepted this offer, you are to perform your tutoring duties as well as all your other school works and lessons. Is this clear."

Holly nodded again.

"You shall have one pupil to begin with. If you do well you may have the option to have more, should you choose. You will receive an hourly wage of three sickles. "

Holly nodded.

"Your pupil shall be Draco Malfoy. You start next week, Friday, in the potions classroom, five o'clock sharp. If you are late for any reason, you will forfeit your tutoring position immediately."

Holly blinked, then nodded hastily.

"Good," said Snape, "you are dismissed."

Holly got up and made her way to the door. As she turned the knob she heard Professor Snape clear his throat. She glanced over her shoulder.

"I have high expectations for you Miss Hawk," said Snape as he shuffled the papers on his desk, "don't disappoint me."

Holly looked back at the potions master and slowly nodded, then quickly turned the knob and left the dungeons.

As she made her way back up to the Great Hall for dinner, Holly's head was buzzing. So she was going to tutor Draco Malfoy, this was going to be fun, she thought sarcastically. Whenever he talks to me I end up embarrassed, he asks so many questions Keira. Oh well, she thought, Professor Snape expected her to do well. She felt pride welling up in her chest. _Professor Snape_ thought she was going to do well. That meant a lot.

As Holly entered the Great Hall, she ran into Harry, Ron and Hermione as they left.

"Hey Holly," said Harry, "sorry, we were just leaving."

Holly smiled and waved her hand, showing that she didn't mind.

"Do you want to go to Hogsmeade with us this weekend?" asked Hermione, "it's the first weekend out, and Harry can't go." She gestured over to a paper covered billboard hanging by the door of the Great Hall.

Holly's eyes lit up with excitement and she nodded vigorously, then she gave Harry a questioning look. He just shrugged his shoulders and looked away grumpily.

"Great, we'll meet up in the common room after breakfast tomorrow then," called Ron over his shoulder as they headed up the staircase.

As they left, Holly went over to look at the billboard. There were many notices covering it: applications for wizard chess tournaments, book clubs and many other student activities. Holly found the posting for Hogsmeade weekends. They were to start this weekend and go until April, every second weekend, for students third year and up. Well this is lucky isn't it, Holly thought, but then her face fell as she read the notice at the bottom of the poster. Oh no, Keira, she thought, we need written permission from parents. Holly's shoulders fell, well looks like I'm stuck at the castle, she thought sadly.

Holly made her way over to the Gryffindor table and flopped down on the bench beside Oliver Wood.

"Why the long face, Hawk?" he asked as he watched her poke her potatoes around her plate.

Holly grabbed her wand and did a scribe spell on the table, writing out her disappointment about not being able to go to Hogsmeade.

"Oh I'm sure McGonagall will let you go, Hawk," reassured Wood, "She let me go even though my parents forgot to sign my permission papers."

Holly raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah," continued Wood, "They sent them the next week, but she still let me go. You just go talk to her…err… I mean, write to her," he grinned.

Holly smiled and wrote on the table again: What permission papers?

"You were supposed to get them by post before you got here," replied Wood, "they were just forms that your parents had to sign saying they were okay with you going."

Holly's face scrunched up as she thought about her letter, maybe she had lost that paper, she thought.

"Well, I hope you get that sorted out, no student should miss out on Hogsmeade," said Wood as he rose to leave, "I need to go plan out the starting tryouts for our quidditch team this year. This is our year, Hawk, I can feel it!" and with that he sauntered out of the hall.

Holly sat staring at her potatoes for a few more minutes, then she pushed her plate away and made her way up to the Professors Table, where Professor McGonagall was still sitting.

"Yes, Miss Hawk," inquired the professor as Holly approached.

Holly picked up a napkin and wrote out her question about the letter of permission for going to Hogsmeade.

"I'm sorry Miss Hawk," said Professor McGonagall sternly, "but we must have a signature of a parent or guardian before you leave the Hogwarts grounds. No exceptions."

Holly gave her pleading look, but McGonagall shook her head again, "No exceptions."

Holly turned to leave when Professor Dumbledore, who must have been eaves dropping, spoke.

"You do have a guardian, I believe, Miss Hawk," he looked at her with a twinkle in his eye.

Holly gave him a questioning look, no I don't have a guardian, she thought. But then it clicked. Olivander! Holly smiled her thanks to Professor Dumbledore and practically ran out of the Great Hall and all the way up to the Gryffindor common room. She searched frantically through her papers for a spare piece of parchment and quill. When she had found a piece big enough, she wrote out a plea to Olivander, explaining the situation and asking if he could provide the much needed signature. She signed it with a flourish and sat there looking at her letter. Yes this sounds good enough, she thought. She bounced off her bed and went back down through the portrait hole. Now I need and owl, she thought, there must be an owlery somewhere. She did a point me spell and watched as her wand did a few circles in the air in front of her, before it settled on a direction. As she made her way through the castle, Holly wondered how long it would take Olivander to respond. She hoped it was quick, she had better choose the fastest owl they had.

Holly hurried down the staircase into the Entrance Hall. She hesitated as her wand pointed towards the doors. She went over and opened them slightly. A huge gust of wind almost knocked her off her feet, but not before she got soaked by torrents of rain that splashed through the small crack in the door. Slamming the door closed again, she just stood there, drenched and embarrassed. She looked around to see if there was anyone who had seen her unfortunate predicament. There was only one person in sight, standing by the entrance to the dungeons. Judging by the way they were bent double, Holly assumed they had watched her mistake. She made to go back up the staircase, when she suddenly felt warm all over. Holly stopped and felt her robes, they were completely dry. She turned back and saw that the person who had seen her was walking towards her. As he came closer, Holly recognised Markus Flint. She smiled and held out the hem of her robes to show her thanks.

"No problem, Hawk," said Flint, still sniggering a little, "it's the least I could do to repay you for the good laugh you just gave me."

Holly blushed and looked down in embarrassment.

"Don't be embarrassed," Flint reassured her, glancing around, "it's easy to not pay attention to the weather when you're cooped up in the castle. Where were you going anyways?"

She did a scribe spell on the railing beside her: I was trying to get to the owlery. Is there only one way to get there?

"Unfortunately yes, it is the only way," said Flint after he had finished reading, "and judging by the weather, none of those stupid school owls is going to go anywhere tonight."

Holly's' face became downcast and she put her letter back into her pocket.

Flint saw her face and thought for a moment.

"Well if you really want that letter sent today, I could let you borrow my owl, he'll fly in any weather," he muttered cautiously.

Holly's eyes lit up and she nodded, taking the letter back out of her pocket and clenching it in her hands.

"Ha ha, okay, don't get too excited, it's just a letter," Flint chuckled.

Holly looked up at his face, he was smiling. She held out her letter.

"Oh, right," he said and reached out to take it.

As he did so, his hand closed around her finger tips still clasping the letter. His eyes widened and they stood there for a few moments before Holly let go and stepped back. She pointed her wand at the railing again: it's for permission to go to Hosgmeade. After a pause she added: you look nice when you smile.

The reaction was sudden and quite funny. Flint immediately got very flustered and rubbed the writing out with his sleeve.

"Yeah… well, um… thanks, I'll… I'll send your letter for you and… are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?" he stuttered, his face quite red.

Holly's face fell a little: I already said I'd go with Hermione and Ron if I can, she wrote out.

"Oh," muttered Flint.

They stood there awkwardly. Holly, wanting to lighten the mood, wrote: But no one's asked for the next one yet.

"Oh, um… okay," Flint stuttered again, "did you want to go then?"

Holly nodded.

"Great, good… well, then I guess I'll see you then… I guess," Flint was still as red as a tomato.

Holly smiled and then gestured up the stairs; she had to be getting back to the common room to start on her homework.

"Okay, well I'll see you soon," Flint smiled and held up her letter, "don't worry, this will get to where it has to go in no time."

Holly made a grateful gesture and started making her way back up the stairs. Suddenly she turned and ran back down, catching Flints arm as he was turning away.

"What?" he asked.

Holly scribed out the words: it's for the wand shop in Diagon Alley.

"Oh, right, thanks," said Flint, "I would have been pretty useless without that."

Holly smiled and waved, heading back up the staircase.

I am definitely not used to attention from boys, she thought as she stroked her necklace, I don't know if I like it, Keira. The dragon let out a little, muffled growl. Holly smiled, you sound like a mother, she thought as she entered the portrait hole. Holly settled down in one of the empty chairs by the fire and pulled out her charms essay. Let's get down to business, she thought as she got out her quill and ink and started to write.

Markus Flint was on cloud nine. He could not stop smiling, he had a bounce in his step and everything was better. He had a date with Holly Hawk. Sure it wasn't for three weeks, but still, a date is a date. Flint was in the best mood of his life, and it did not go unnoticed by his peers, especially Draco.

"Well aren't you a stinking ray of sunshine today," smirked Draco when Flint sauntered into the Slytherin common room.

"You would be too, Malfoy," sneered Flint, "you would be too."

He could tell that Malfoy did not like the sound of that, which just heightened his mood even more.

"Well what's so bloody great then?" asked Draco, his eyes boring into the back of Flint's head.

"Let's just say, that I'm actually going on a Hogsmeade weekend this year," replied Flint mysteriously, turning around.

Draco thought for a moment, "Oh," he realized, "You finally got the balls to ask Pansy again?"

Flint made a retching noise, "Don't even talk to me about Pansy Parkinson."

"Oh, good," said a voice behind them, "you're finally over me."

Both boys turned to see Pansy Parkinson enter the common room.

"Go away, Pansy," they said in unison.

She stuck out her lower lip in a pout.

"Good thing a girl doesn't need guys like you to have fun," she scoffed as she crossed over to the girls' dormitories and slammed the door.

"So who's your date, or are you going to be a slug and not tell me?" the tone in Malfoys' voice said that he already knew who Flint had asked.

"I think you'll figure it out Malfoy, since you have such an interest in her," Flint knew this was a dead giveaway, but he was massively enjoying the look on Malfoy's face.

Malfoy stood up and walked threateningly over the Flint.

"You wouldn't lay a finger on a Gryffindor unless you wanted to curse them," his voice was so low that Flint could barely hear him, "if you ever try to hurt her, you'll wish you'd never been born, Flint."

"Hey, take it easy there Tiger," Flint joked, "You're awfully possessive of something that doesn't belong to you."

"I could say the same thing about you," glared Draco, "You don't know anything about her!"

"Oh and you do Mister High-and-mighty?" Flint rolled his eyes, "a date is usually how you try to get to know a person."

Draco turned away from Flint, "I know more than you do anyways," he muttered as he stalked off to the dormitories.

Flint watched him go. So Malfoy was doing some digging on Hawk? Well it doesn't matter, he thought happily as he sat down on the couch and pulled out a transfiguration book, I'll just get to know her at Hogsmeade. Just then another thought slipped into his mind and made him close his book again. Why was she sending her letter for Hogsmeade to the wand shop? He got up quickly, almost upsetting the table, and sped after Malfoy.

"Hey, Malfoy!" he shouted, "Hold on a second."

"I don't want to talk to you Flint," muttered Draco, still facing away from Flint.

"Is Hawk related to Olivander the wand maker?" Flint asked.

"Not that I know of," said Draco, turning around, "why do you ask?"

"She gave me a letter to send there, a letter for permission to go to Hogsmeade," replied Flint, "he must be her father then."

Draco laughed, "That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard," he scoffed at Flint, "she doesn't have any parents, she's an orphan."

"What?" Flint was gaping at Draco, "then why would she send that letter to Olivander?"

"I have no idea," Draco was getting beyond annoyed now, "maybe he lets her stay with him."

"Stay with him? She doesn't live in an orphanage?" Flint was hungry for all the information he could have about Holly.

"No, she lived on the street," sighed Draco as he opened the door to his dormitory, "she told me she lived in Nocturne Alley."

"Wait," spluttered Flint, "you talked to her?"

But Draco had already walked through the door and ignored his last question.

Draco slammed the dormitory door so hard that it rattled on its hinges. Damn that Flint, he thought, he's doing it deliberately now!

Draco fell onto his bed with an exasperated sigh.

"So he has a date with Holly Hawk," he spoke into the silence.

This was a very unpleasant thought for Draco. He had been planning on asking her to Hogsmeade since before he ran into her behind that pig statue.

He thought back to that evening. He had been on his way to the Gryffindor common room to try and sneak a letter to Holly. He had managed to snitch the password off some puny first year and had gotten the directions to the secret passage way from an acquaintance of his in Ravenclaw. Of course, once he had run into her in front of the passage, he had lost his nerve and returned to the Slytherin common room. After all he had had a lot to think about.

So Holly was homeless, Draco tried to organise his thoughts, how on earth had she been able to survive? She didn't have any parents, so she must have been all by herself. And living in Nocturne Alley? That was the sketchiest place she could have picked.

Well at least that could account for her being so paranoid all the time. And I guess it could be why she's good at potions, he thought, if she couldn't buy her own, she would have had to make them.

Draco wished he was good in potions, it was his lowest mark. His parents were making him get a tutor and take extra lessons. Well there go my Friday nights, he sighed. He honestly didn't think that a tutor would help; he didn't learn well in class, how would more class help? Draco sighed, well at least those don't start until next week, he thought.

Draco rolled over onto his stomach, his thoughts drifting back to Holly. He should have slipped his date proposal into her robes when they were behind the statue. Then she would be going to Hogsmeade with him and not Flint, Draco pouted. Well at least he still knew more about her than Flint, he was proud of that and determined to keep it that way.


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Flint was as good as his word it seems, thought Holly on Saturday morning. A dark screech owl had landed in front of her, almost upsetting her plate of eggs. It stuck out its leg and Holly undid the letter. Giving the owl a piece of her bacon, she quickly wrote a thank you note to Flint and attached it to the birds' still outstretched leg. This is for Flint, she thought as she gave the bird another bit of bacon. After gobbling it up, the bird took off and soared over to the Slytherin table. Holly watched as Flint undid and read her note. He looked up and she waved to get his attention. He smiled and raised a hand in acknowledgment before returning to his breakfast.

Holly opened her letter and recognized Olivanders looping script giving her permission to go to Hogsmeade and telling her how honoured he felt that she considered him her guardian. Holly quickly got up and made her way out into the Entrance Hall, where Professor McGonagall was collecting the permission slips from the other students. Holly proudly handed in her letter and walked over to where Hermione and Ron were saying goodbye to Harry.

"There you are," said Hermione as she noticed Holly come up, "we were worried you'd be too late since you weren't in the common room."

"She could've kept me company then," muttered Harry.

Holly could tell he was very upset about not being able to go. She reached out and squeezed his shoulder comfortingly.

"It's no biggy," said Harry as he shrugged off her hand and turned to leave.

Holly quickly scribed onto her hand and held it out so Harry could read it: I'll bring you back something special.

"You don't have to Holly," he said, "I don't want anything."

"Good," joked Ron, "More for me."

But then he patted Harry on the back, "but seriously, you're getting so much candy that you'll be sick after."

"Just have fun you guys," called Harry as they made their way out into the path.

The three of them made their way out to the road and they started on their way to Hogsmeade. Holly was so excited. Hermione and Ron were talking about all the stores and all the things to do there.

"We'll even get to try some butterbeer or firewhiskey," said Ron excitedly, "I'll try to sneak some back for Harry."

"Don't even think about it Ron," scolded Hermione, "Dumbledore would never allow drinks like that in the castle, you can bring him back all the sweets you want though."

Holly looked around as they made their way through the countryside surrounding the castle. It was a beautiful day, there was a slight breeze and she could see two birds flitting through the trees that lined the road.

She turned and tugged on Hermiones' robes. Is there a joke shop there? She scribed onto the side of a fence.

"Yes, I believe," Hermione answered, "I think it's called Zonkos. Your brothers talk about it an awful lot, Ron."

"Yeah, it's their favourite place in Hogsmeade," said Ron, "they always come back with plenty of jokes to play on me."

Holly smiled and turned her attention back to the scenery, she had an idea of what to bring back for Harry.

Soon, they reached the gates of the little village. Holly, Ron and Hermione were carried on the crowd down the main street of Hogsmeade.

Holly looked at all the shops as they went by. There was an owlery, Zonkos joke shop as Ron had said, Honeydukes candy store, The Three Broomsticks, The Hog's Head, a small pink looking café, and a shop for quills and parchment. This place has everything thought Holly.

"Let's go down here," Hermione called over the crowd.

The three of them extricated themselves and made their way down a small grassy path.

"Why are we going down here?" asked Ron when the noise of the crowd had died away a little.

"I just wanted to see the Shrieking Shack," replied Hermione, "people say it's haunted, that it actually shrieks."

"What?" whined Ron, "and you want to get close to it? You're absolutely mental, you are."

"Relax, Ronald," Hermione sighed.

Holly smiled and followed Hermione down the path. As they reached a small wooden fence, a cloud floated across the sun, making it feel chilly.

"That's it?" scoffed Ron, "it's definitely a shack."

It was a forlorn little building sitting on the crest of a little hill. Holly could see the shattered windows and broken shutters, giving the place a sad look. She shivered and turned away, it reminded her of her store in Nocturne Alley. She started walking back up the path, scribing on the fence by Hermione as she did so: I'll meet you in the Three Broomsticks later.

As Holly walked through Hogsmeade, she thought of what she could get Harry. What I need are Fantasy Fakers, she thought as she opened the door of Zonko's Joke shop.

The shelves were full to bursting with every type of prank imaginable! The corridors were so jam packed with students that Holly had to pretend she was weaving around chimneys on the rooftops of Diagon Alley just to get through. She scoured the shelves, searching for Fantasy Fakers. These pranks were very popular in Nocturne Alley. They were glasses that showed a pre-recorded scene. They were so light that, if put on properly, the wearer would never feel the glasses and would take what they saw in the recording to be reality. A lot of thieves used Fantasy Fakers to create a diversion to make pick pocketing a little easier.

After searching many of the shelves and stalls in the store, Holly was ready to give up. She didn't like being so close to so many people and she as getting frustrated.

She started making her way back across the store towards the door when she bumped into a familiar face.

"Hey Holly," shouted George above the noise of the crowd, "fancy meeting you here."

Holly waved and pointed towards the door.

"What, you leaving already?" gaped George, "without buying anything?"

Holly scribed that she was trying to find Fantasy Fakers on her hand and held it out to George just as Fred came up behind him.

"Oh, brilliant!" exclaimed Fred, "Fantasy Fakers are the best. I know where old Zonko keeps them."

He turned and moved off towards the opposite side of the room.

"We better follow him quick," said George, grabbing her hand, "or he'll disappear."

Holly let herself be dragged through the shop. When they reached the far wall, they spotted Fred at the entrance to one of the corridors. This corridor was slightly less crowded than the main room. Holly leaned up against the shelf and took a deep breath.

"You don't like big crowds, eh?" said George, letting go of her hand.

Holly shook her head and started down the corridor towards where Fred was looking at a shelf that was just out of Holly's reach.

"Here we are," said the twin as he pulled a small box off the shelf and handed it to Holly, "top of the line Fantasy Fakers."

Holly smiled at Fred and then glanced at the shelf beside her.

There was a picture depicting a miniature brain floating in the air above a carved wooden platform. Holly stared at the picture and got another brilliant idea. She picked up a box containing the brain and platform set and turned back to the twins.

"Would you like an escort to the cashier, my dear?" said Fred with a flourish.

Holly smiled and nodded.

"Well my brother will kindly oblige as I have just spotted another damsel in distress," and with a wink, Fred disappeared back into the crowd.

"The counter is this way, Holly," said George.

He motioned towards the other end of the corridor. Holly raised her eyebrow and looked back at the crowded shop center. Wouldn't it be that way, she thought. Looking back at George, she gave him a confused glance.

"This way would be less crowded," he muttered, "I thought… you know, since you don't like crowds and all…"

Holly was struck by Georges' thoughtfulness towards her. She smiled warmly and took his hand.

His cheeks went up a couple of shades as he turned and led her through the back corridors of the shop. As they approached the crowded area again, George pulled her a little closer.

"That's the end of the line right there," he pointed to a row of students, "you better get in there before it gets any longer."

Holly smiled, waved goodbye and joined the queue of students making their purchases.

She didn't have to wait too long, and soon she was exiting the shop with her two parcels under her arm. Now I just need a place to put it together, she thought.

Holly walked through the village until she came to the Three Broomsticks pub. It's a bit early, she thought, but I can wait here for Ron and Hermione.

Holly entered the pub and made her way to one of the booths and sat down. She put her two packages on the table in front of her. First things first, she thought as she took the Fantasy Fakers and opened the box. She took out the small pair of glasses and punched out the two lenses.

"Well isn't that a waste of a couple galleons," sneered a voice from beside her.

Holly looked up to see Draco Malfoy standing at the end of her booth.

"Do you mind if I sit?" asked Draco.

Holly shook her head and gestured to the seat opposite her. Draco slid into the booth and ordered two butterbeers.

"So why are you ruining a perfectly good pair of Fantasy Fakers, Hawk?" asked Draco, looking at the empty frames on the table and the two lenses in her hand.

Holly scribed on the table: I'm making a present.

"Oh," said Draco, sounding surprised, "well go on then, don't let me distract you."

Taking her wand, Holly heated the two lenses until she could mould them together into a sphere, then she cooled the glass quickly so that it hardened.

Draco was watching her with interest, he had known that she was very good at magic; he just hadn't known how good she was. She had just performed a fifth year spell!

Just then their drinks arrived and started pouring themselves. Draco took a large gulp of his and focused his attention back on Holly.

Ignoring her beverage, Holly continued her present making by opening the second box. She removed the brain and the wooden platform and set the brain aside with the empty glasses frames. Then she held the glass sphere over the wooden panel. She removed her hand and the sphere stayed hovering in the air. Still concentrating quite hard, Holly tilted the platform a little. The sphere slid a little downwards, but remained airborne. She tilted the platform a little more. This time, the sphere suddenly dropped to the table and rolled to the edge. Holly reached out her hand to grab it before it went over, but she missed. Her heart fell as she watched the sphere pause at the edge of the table, then fall towards the floor. Suddenly, Draco's arm shot out and snatched it before it hit the ground.

"I'm a seeker, you know," he bragged as he handed her sphere back, "so I have to have amazing reflexes."

Holly gave him a sly smile and placed the sphere back in its place, hovering above the platform. She pointed her wand at the space in between the sphere and the platform and closed her eyes. Draco watched her face as she did this. Her eyes were scrunched up a little out of concentration and there were a couple small wrinkles forming on her forehead. If only I had the courage to ask her, he thought. She remained like this for a few moments, nothing seemed to happen. Then suddenly, Holly opened her eyes again, picked up the platform and turned it completely upside down. Draco made to catch the sphere for the second time, but this time it didn't fall. It stayed hovering the same distance above (in this case beneath) the platform.

"Wow, Hawk," Draco gaped, "you are really good with spells. I only know sixth years who can do silent spells."

Holly blushed and waved her hand. How else was she supposed to cast spells? She took a drink of butterbeer and then put her wand up to her temple. As she lowered her wand, a thin silver string of light flowed from the tip of it. Holly waved her wand over the sphere and the string of light floated down onto the sphere. For a moment it rested there, then it seemed to melt through the glass and enter the sphere. Once inside, the string turned in on itself and then suddenly, light filled the entire sphere. The light slowly faded to reveal a series of images. Holly pushed the platform across the table so Draco could see the pictures more clearly.

As he peered into the sphere, Draco realised what he was seeing. All of the pictures were of Hogsmeade. He saw Honeydukes, Zonkos and the Three Broomsticks. There were even pictures of the Shrieking Shack and that little pink café. In each picture you could see all the students who were visiting Hogsmeade that day, they were moving around just like in wizarding pictures. This was quite the piece of magic, he thought.

"This is amazing," he said out loud, "whoever this is for, they are really lucky."

Holly blushed again and put her creation into one of the boxes and put it on the seat beside her.

Thank you for the butterbeer, she scribed onto the table.

"Oh, don't mention it," said Draco, "I just wanted to ask –"

He cut off suddenly as he looked over Holly's shoulder and his face paled.

"Um, I have to go," he stammered and quickly got up, took his butterbeer and left.

Holly only had a few moments to be bewildered, however, because Hermione and Ron slid into her booth.

"Hey," said Ron as he sat down, "whatcha got there?"

He pointed to the boxes and the broken glasses. Holly pointed her wand at the table: Harry's present.

"A floating brain?" said Hermione as she picked up the box, "oh that is brilliant. It even has labels."

"Not sure if its Harry's thing though," cautioned Ron, "and why are there broken glasses?"

Holly pointed at the brain box, then at the glasses, and then she brought both hands together.

"Oh, you made him something," understood Hermione, "that's wonderful!"

"Cool," said Ron, "can we see what it is?"

Holly took her box and shook her head. The words: "it's a surprise" appeared on the table.

"Alright, fine then," said Ron, "have you been to Honeydukes yet?"

When Holly shook her head Ron sprang to his feet.

"Excellent, me neither. Let's go!"

And with that, the three friends left the Three Broomstick. The rest of the evening was spent exploring all the shops in Hogsmeade. Whenever they discovered something new, Holly would secretly add a picture to her sphere. She wanted Harry to be able to see everything she had seen. I sure hope he likes this, Keira, she thought as she made her way after Hermione and Ron, joining the students walking back to the castle.


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

They found Harry at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. He was poking a piece of lettuce around on his plate when they joined him.

"Here, Harry," laughed Ron as he dropped three bags full of candy onto the table in front of his friend, "I hope you saved some room for desert."

"Oh wow, Ron," Harry laughed, "I told you I didn't want anything."

"Rubbish," snorted Ron.

He pulled the top sweet out of a bag.

"This is a peppermint cream," he said as he handing a candy toad to Harry, "you swallow them whole and they hop around in your belly."

Harry took the toad and smiled.

"You guys are the best," he said.

"And what made you think we were finished?" teased Hermione.

She took a parcel out of her bag and handed it to Harry. He unwrapped it to reveal a nice quill and parchment set.

"I know you've been running low for a while," said Hermione, "so I thought you'd enjoy these."

"What a lovely colour," joked Harry, holding up a purple quill.

Hermione scowled.

"If you don't like it I can return them," she muttered.

"I'm only joking, Hermione," laughed Harry, "thanks I really needed some more parchment."

Hermione smiled again and sat back down.

Holly took out her parcel and placed it on the table in front of Harry.

"You too, Holly?" Harry laughed, "When did I deserve such wonderful friends?"

He ripped the wrapping paper and looked at the box.

"A brain?" he looked confusedly at Holly.

She just smiled and made a "go on" motion.

He shrugged and opened the box.

"Oh, wow!" he gasped, "This is amazing."

"Well don't just sit there gawking," whined Ron, "give us a look."

Harry lifted the platform out of the box and placed it on the table.

The little sphere sat there, hovering and showing all the scenes that Holly had placed in it that afternoon. She had even had a little time to decorate the platform with swirly patterns of vines that kept growing and moving along the platform.

"You made this!" exclaimed Hermione, "this is really advanced magic."

"Wait," said Harry, "you made this?"

Holly nodded.

"Yeah," said Ron, "out of a pair of Fantasy Fakers and that brain thing."

Harry looked back at the sphere.

"Is this Hogsmeade?" he peered closely at the pictures.

"That's Honeydukes," said Hermione as a picture of the building was shown, "and that's what it looks like on the inside," another picture floated into view.

"So this is why you wanted to see everything," laughed Ron, looking at Holly.

She smiled and shrugged. Suddenly they heard a drawling voice from down the Hall.

"What a waste of a wonderful present," scoffed Draco Malfoy, "he really doesn't deserve something like that, Hawk."

"Piss off, Malfoy," spat Ron, "no one here wants to see you."

Draco laughed and turned away.

"He makes me sick," seethed Hermione.

"Don't listen to him, Holly," sighed Harry, "Malfoy thinks he deserves everything and everybody else deserves nothing."

Holly looked back across to the Slytherin Table and sighed. Just then the twins entered the Great Hall and took a seat next to Ron.

"Got lots of loot I see," chuckled Fred as his eyes fell on the bags of sweets.

"And what is this pretty little thing?" asked George as he saw the floating sphere in front of Harry.

"Holly made it for me," explained Harry as he positioned the platform so the twins could see it in full.

"You made this?" gawked George as he looked at her creation, "wait, is that the base for the brain ornament?"

Holly nodded.

"Well then be careful Harry," continued George, "the hovering charm is really unstable, the brain is supposed to fall down every now and then, that's what the prank part is," he turned back to Holly, "if I'd have known what you needed it for, I would have shown you something more reliable."

Holly shook her head and picked up the platform. She flipped the thing over again, like she had in the Three Broomsticks, to show the stability of the sphere.

"Oh, so you modified it," realised Fred, "that is genius. But what did you need the Fantasy Fakers for?"

Holly pointed to the sphere.

"You made that out of the lenses?" said George, "and it plays scenes of Hogsmeade. You are brilliant Holly."

Holly blushed and looked down at her empty plate.

"How did you get the scenes to play though?" asked Hermione, "Wouldn't the modification destroy the recording?"

Holly scribed on the table: I put them in after I made the sphere.

"Put them in? You can only record with these lenses," said Fred.

Holly shook her head again and wrote: with memories. Then she put her wand to her temple to show how she had done it.

"These are your memories?" exclaimed Hermione, "How did you know how to do that?"

Holly shrugged and wrote out: Diagon Alley.

Hermione went silent.

"Those alleys really teach you stuff then," said Ron into the silence.

Holly nodded and wrote: you need to learn fast.

"Wait," interrupted George, "what's all this about Diagon Alley?"

Harry looked at Holly, who nodded her permission.

"Holly lives in Diagon Alley," he explained.

"Like in the Leaky Cauldron?" asked Fred.

Holly shook her head.

"Well where else is there to live in there?"

Holly looked at Harry again and nodded.

"Are you sure?" he asked her.

Holly nodded her head again.

"Holly didn't live anywhere in particular…" he tried to put it lightly and Holly appreciated the effort.

"Wait…" George was slowly realising the truth, "so you don't have a home?"

Holly made a "kind of" motion with her hand and scribed: I have a place to sleep.

There was silence again.

"Well," said George, "you are welcome to join us for Christmas."

Holly smiled at him and nodded. She would love that.

Sunday passed in a haze of sun and relaxation. Holly spent the day exploring the Hogwarts grounds. She discovered a nice place by the lake, under a willow tree. She made sure that there weren't any students hiding in the bushes and then let Keira out of her charms. The little dragon dropped down into the grass and slithered off to hunt insects and things. As Holly lay there dozing in the shade, she watched some first years throw sandwiches into the lake and heard them squeal with excitement every time a giant tentacle would appear and grab the food.

Holly let her mind wander where it wanted. She thought about Hogsmeade and about her friends. She thought about Sirius Black and Nocturne Alley. And then her thoughts drifted to the subject of boys.

As far as she could tell, there were three boys that took an interest in her: Markus Flint, George Weasley and Draco Malfoy. She wasn't sure if any of these weren't just curiosity. I mean, it's not like I fit in, she thought as she rolled onto her side. She would have to get to know these boys a little better, but without getting to close. She did want to get to know all of them, they were all wonderful boys, but she wasn't sure that she was ready for anything like a relationship. She was so used to being by herself.

Just then Keira came sliding back to her through the long grass.

"Are you having fun?" Holly whispered as she smiled down at the little dragon sitting in the grass with a cricket between her jaws.

Keira dropped the cricket in front of Holly's fingers and paraded around triumphantly.

"Yes you are a very good hunter," she whispered again as she scratched behind Keira's wings.

Keira let out a soft purr and rolled over onto her back. Holly stroked the exposed belly and curled her finger through the scaly tail.

A sudden rustle in the leaves made them both jump. But it was just a squirrel digging for a nut. The little animal froze when it felt eyes on it, and then sprang away, heading for the safety of the trees. Keira jumped up with a little roar and chased after the fleeing rodent.

Holly smiled as she watched Keira's tail disappear around a bush and hoped that her little friend would be careful.

Rolling over, Holly sighed and closed her eyes again.

She was still lying like this when Keira returned from her unsuccessful hunting expedition. The little dragon climbed onto Holly's chest and curled up, her body rising and falling with Holly's breath.

Keira was about to fall asleep herself, when she heard soft footsteps coming up through the grass. She let out the smallest of roars in Holly's ear and slithered into her pocket.

Unfortunately, Holly was still dreaming and didn't hear her friends warning. She didn't stir until the person had come right up under the willow tree and sat down beside her.

"Having a nice nap?" said a voice.

Holly started up so suddenly that the charms flew out of their pouch and landed with two thuds in the grass at her feet.

She scrambled for them, but someone else's hand found them first.

Holly looked up and saw George Weasley sitting in the grass beside her, holding out her charms in his hands.

"Sorry if I startled you," he apologized, placing the charms in her hands.

Holly blushed and looked around, at anything but George. She was so flustered that she didn't even do anything with her charms; she just held them in her hands.

George flushed and looked down at her hands.

"You shouldn't be squeezing them so hard," he said as he placed his hands on hers, "you might hurt yourself."

Holly looked into Georges face. She saw that he was genuinely concerned and slowly opened her hands to reveal her charms. George took them and raised them so that a beam of sunshine hit them and lit them up.

"These are really pretty," he said as he inspected them, "you should have a necklace for them, so you don't lose them."

Holly smiled and took her charms back. She wasn't going to show Keira to anyone, not yet. But she did feel like she could trust George. After all, he had kept her singing a secret so far. She picked up a leaf that lay on the ground near her and scribed onto it: they're all I have from my parents.

George's eyes widened as he read.

"Oh, I didn't realise they were that special… I wonder what they mean…" his voice trailed off.

Holly gave him a questioning look. When he refocused his attention on her, he explained himself.

"Well, I just thought that a wolf and a deer are odd things to leave to your kid."

Holly let her gaze drift out over the lake. She had often wondered that herself. What did these charms mean? Were they a clue to who her parents were or why they abandoned her? Holly sat there lost in thought and didn't even notice when Georges hand covered her own. A bird suddenly flew down from a tree above them and flitted off across the lake. Holly's eyes followed it and she scribed onto the leaf she still held in her hand: I've always wanted to fly.

George read her message in silence. He followed her gaze and saw the retreating bird.

"Well, you know, Holly," he started a little nervously, "you could try out for the quidditch team."

Holly's attention refocused on George and she fixed him with a nervous stare. She had to admit she had been thinking about it ever since Wood had told her he was planning the tryouts.

Words appeared on the leaf again: I've never even sat on a broom before.

George smiled as he read this, here was his chance.

"I could teach you," he offered, watching her face, "I am a beater on the Gryffindor team."

Holly thought about this for a moment. Then she pointed her wand at the leaf once more: okay, if you can teach me how to ride a broom, I'll try out for the team.

George smiled again.

"Great," he exclaimed, "when would you like to start your lessons, Miss Hawk?"

Holly gave him a quizzical look. This made George laugh, which, in turn, made Holly smile. When George continued to stare at her, Holly blushed again and dropped her gaze. The leaf glowed again, showing the words: how about tomorrow?

"Sounds good," George replied, "I'll meet you here after supper, tomorrow."

Holly nodded and they sat there, sitting under the willow tree. The first years had given up on their quest to bring up the giant squid and had wandered off towards the castle. The sun was setting and it shone so brightly on the lake that Holly's eyes started to water and she had to look away. When she had wiped the water from her eyes, she noticed that George was watching her again. She blushed and fidgeted with the hem of her robes.

"Do you think you could sing?" George asked quietly.

Holly shook her head vigorously.

"Please," George pleaded, "I've wanted to hear your voice again ever since I heard you at the fountain."

Holly shook her head again and stood up. I don't trust you that much yet George, she thought. She gestured towards the castle and then turned towards it. Making her way quickly across the grass, she stopped and looked back. George was still sitting under the willow tree, looking down between his hands, which held the leaf she had used to scribe on.

As she stared, he looked up and called after her.

"I was serious about Christmas."

Holly lowered her head and smiled. Then she waved and turned again.

I'm sorry George, she thought as she continued her way to the castle, I'll see you tomorrow.


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Draco's Defense against the Dark Arts class was turning out to be quite interesting. Professor Lupin had them studying boggarts. And by studying them, he meant having them face off with a real one.

This is hardly teaching, thought Draco as the professor called each student forward to challenge the boggart. Every time it was faced with someone who wasn't part of the crowd of students, the boggart would change into whatever that person feared the most. They had already seen it change into a giant spider, a banshee and, hilariously, Professor Snape.

Draco had managed to keep at the back of the crowd and so hadn't been called up. And he was determined to keep it that way.

He wanted a good view when Hawk had to face the boggart. He was quite interested in what her deepest fear was. But so far, she had also been able to avoid the Professors attention. Draco watched her move through the crowd. Wow, he thought, she sure is quick. Holly darted and weaved through the students like she was swimming through water. She made her way to the back of the crowd and emerged right in front of Draco.

"Oh, hey, Hawk," Draco glanced away, trying to look aloof.

When he looked back at Holly, she waved her hand and looked nervously over her shoulder.

"You don't want to fight it?" Draco asked, slightly disappointed.

Holly shook her head and shuddered.

"You must really be scared of something then?" prodded Draco.

Holly nodded.

"Scared of what?" Draco was insistent.

Holly just shrugged and played with the hem of her sleeve.

Just then, Professor Lupin spotted them.

"Your turn, Miss Hawk," called the Professor.

The crowd parted and became silent. Draco felt feelings of pity rise in his chest as Holly slowly walked forward, her shoulders hunched and shaking.

The boggart was still turning in circles in the form of a disembodied hand. But as Holly approached it, it stopped running around and stayed facing her.

Holly reached the front of the crowd and stood facing the boggart hand. For a moment nothing happened. Then, the hand started to grow, and as it grew, it started sprouting silver hair. Holly stood there, visibly shaking, until the transformation had stopped.

Draco was very confused by what he saw. The boggart had changed into a giant silver wolf. How is _that_ what Holly's afraid of? He almost spluttered out loud.

Still, it clearly _was_ what frightened Holly the most. She was completely petrified.

"Now just raise your wand and cast the spell: ridikulus," said the Professor.

But Holly didn't react, she just stood there, shaking and staring at the wolf. The wolf, however, was sniffing the air. It turned its attention to Professor Lupin, who was standing apart from the students.

Draco saw the Professor visibly start, then the wolf let out a growl and sprang at him.

All of a sudden there was a loud bang and the wolf disappeared, mid-spring. In its place, there was a small puppy.

Aww, thought Draco, its actually cute. He glanced at the Professor, whom he supposed had cast the spell in defense. But Professor Lupin was staring at the puppy with a weird look on his face.

"Are you okay, Holly?" suddenly Granger rushed up to Holly.

Holly was standing with her wand out and still locked on the puppy that was frolicking around and chasing its own tail. But she was still shaking, and there were tears streaming down her face.

"Now, now, Miss Hawk," the Professor seemed to come to his senses, "it wasn't real, just a boggart."

He picked up the puppy, which growled at him, and put it back in the cupboard where he stored the boggart. Then he went over to Holly, who was still crying onto Grangers shoulder.

"There, there," he said, patting Hawk on the back, "Miss Granger would you please escort Miss Hawk to the Hospital Wing, she will need a calming draught."

"Yes, Professor Lupin," said Granger, and she began leading Holly out of the classroom.

But apparently Holly had had a greater scare than they thought. After three steps, she fainted.

"Oh my," said Professor Lupin, "Mister Malfoy, will you please help Miss Granger to carry her to the Infirmary."

Draco was ecstatic.

"What?!" he scoffed, "Why me? I'm sure Potter or Weasley would love to get their hands on her."

"That was an inappropriate comment Mister Malfoy, five points from Slytherin. Now help Miss Granger or you will be seeing me in detention."

Draco glowered and picked up Holly's right arm and put it around his shoulder. Granger adjusted her side and they made their way out of the classroom.

"That was so rude, Malfoy," seethed Granger, "of course I wouldn't expect anything higher than that from you."

"Oh, shut it, Granger!" sneered Draco, "you know it's true. Tell me you haven't seen the way Wealsey gawks at her whenever she walks by him. God, he's like that puppy back there."

"Shut up, Malfoy!" shouted Granger.

"No need to raise your voice," muttered Draco as they passed a classroom, "do you want us to lose more points."

"Who's "us"?" scoffed Granger, "I didn't harass Holly."

"Whatever," muttered Draco.

They made the rest of the way to the Hospital Wing in brooding silence.

As they entered, the bell rang for the end of class. Draco saw Granger make a worried look and hurried forward, almost dropping Holly.

"Careful!" Draco exclaimed, "If you don't want to miss class just go then. Don't drop her."

Granger stared at him with wide eyes.

Oh damn, thought Draco, I've let some of it show.

Granger was looking at him with a weird look on her face.

"I am not about to leave her alone with you, Malfoy."

"And what's that supposed to mea-"

He was cut off by Madame Pompfery arriving in a bustle.

"What have we here," she took Holly's arm from Draco and she and Granger carried Holly over to one of the beds.

"She fainted in Defense against the Dark Arts," explained Draco, following them, "Professor Lupin had us fighting a boggart."

Granger gave him another weird look. He knew that he should leave now, that's what he would do if it was anyone else who had fainted. But Holly wasn't just anyone.

"Well if it was just from fright then this should do the trick," said Madame Pompfrey, holding a bottle under Holly's nose.

Draco watched as Holly's eyes fluttered and slowly opened.

"There," said Madame Pompfery, "now off to class, all of you."

She helped Holly out of the bed and hustled them all towards the door.

"Are you feeling okay?" Granger asked Holly.

Holly nodded and gave Granger a weak smile. Then she noticed Draco.

All of a sudden, he realised that he shouldn't be here. He should have left before she woke up, now she knows that he helped Granger.

Holly gave him a questioning look.

"I had to help carry you up here," he muttered, "well, you're fine now, so I have to get to class."

And with that he turned and walked off towards the transfiguration classroom.

Holly stood looking after Draco as he left; she turned and raised her eyebrows at Hermione.

"Yeah, I thought that was weird too," said Hermione, "but come on, we should head to Charms."

Holly nodded and followed after Hermione.

As they made their way through the castle, Hermione walked beside Holly.

"Are you sure you're okay now?" she kept pestering worriedly.

Holly gave her friend a weak smile and nodded her head.

After a few silent minutes, Hermione asked Holly another question.

"So you're scared of silver wolves?"

Holly slowed to a stop and shivered. Looking back at Hermione, she nodded, pointing her wand at the wall. The words wrote themselves across the surface: Just that one.

"Oh," said Hermione, "Did something happen?"

Holly sat down with her back against the wall. Hermione looked nervously down the hallway.

"We'll be late for class," spluttered Hermione.

Holly smiled and motioned for her to keep going.

"I don't want to leave you alone here," she said, still visibly aching to keep going.

Holly motioned again and scribed on the wall beside her: I just need a little while.

Hermione looked at her, and then nodded.

"Okay," she said, "but if you're not in class in fifteen minutes, I'm coming back out here."

Holly smiled and nodded as Hermione turned and continued her way to class.

She sat there for a little while, listening. When the sounds of students moving around had disappeared and the halls were quiet, Holly unclipped Keira and put her in her lap. Well, I haven't seen that nightmare in a long time, Holly sighed. Keira settled herself in the folds of Holly's robes and purred comfortingly. Holly stroked the little dragons head. I used to have that nightmare every night Keira, she thought.

Every night she would dream that she was wrapped up in something, she couldn't move. She would be in someone's arms, being carried. It would be dark and windy. Then suddenly the person carrying her would stop moving. Holly would hear growling all around. The person carrying her would say something, seemed to be talking to someone else. Then all of a sudden, Holly would see a giant silver wolf rushing at her. She would struggle to get out of whatever was wrapped around her, but it was no use. The wolf would grab her in its teeth and drag her into the dark. That's usually when Holly would wake up in a cold sweat.

Holly felt Keira wrap her tail around her finger. She looked down at the little dragon. The thing that scares me most about that wolf, she thought, is that I know it was taking me away from someone very important, someone I needed. And it took me away from that person and threw me into the darkness.

Holly shivered again. Keira was trying to crawl up Holly's sleeve and on to her shoulder, quite unsuccessfully. The dragons little claws couldn't grasp onto the thick fabric and she fell with a thump back into Holly's lap. Holly smiled and picked Keira up.

"You are the best thing that ever happened to me," she whispered, and hugged her little friend fiercely. We better not keep Hermione waiting any longer, she thought as Keira wrapped back around her neck. And we're late enough for class, Holly reminded herself as she got up off the floor and continued on her way to the Charms classroom.

The shock of Defense against the Dark Arts class soon wore off, and by lunch Holly was feeling back to normal. Her friends kept their eyes on her, though, no matter how often she would smile and try to tell them she was fine. She wasn't used to all this attention focused on her, though she secretly admitted that she liked it.

The end of the day approached rapidly and before she knew it, Holly was heading out to the lake to meet George. Holly put her hand up to her necklace as she got close to the spot where she and George had sat the day before.

Hang on tight Keira, she thought, I have a feeling the will be lots of falling involved.

George wasn't there yet, so Holly sat down on the grass and stared out into the lake.

The water was a darker blue, green today. The sun was hidden behind scattered clouds. Holly played with the sleeves of her robes. She was really nervous about getting on a broom. She had always wished that she would have the chance. She'd always wanted to fly, to be up in the sky with Keira at her side. And now she finally could, hopefully without serious injury.

She heard footsteps behind her and turned to see George coming up the hill with a broom in each hand. She jumped up and quickly ran down to take one from him.

"Thanks," he panted, "I forgot how far it was from the pitch to here."

Holly looked down at the broom in her hands. It was one of the school brooms. The twigs were all frayed and the handle was quite worn at the handholds. She placed her hands in the groves and felt a thrill of excitement go through her.

"Hang on a minute," said George, digging into a bag he had thrown onto the ground, he produced some elbow and knee pads and held them out to her, "these were the smallest ones I could find."

Holly took them and strapped them on.

"Now," continued George, "let's just see how confident you are."

He placed his and Holly's broom, side by side, on the ground.

Holly gave him a nervous glance.

"Go stick your hand over the broom and say "up"—er … think "up"."

Holly gave him another weird look, but she walked up to her broom and held out her hand.

She turned her head back to look at George. How was this supposed to see how confident I am? She thought.

"Go on," he said.

Holly shrugged her shoulders and cleared her mind. Up! She thought.

The broom shot off the ground and collided with Holly's outstretched hand with a loud crack. She let out a painful whine and wobbled, clutching her hand to her chest as the broom fell back to the ground.

"Oh no!" exclaimed George, "That sounded bad Holly, let me look."

He moved in to take a look at her hand. Holly was touched by his obvious concern, but Holly couldn't move her hand away from her chest, it hurt too much. She shook her head.

"Do you need to go to the Hospital Wing?" asked George, fussing over her and putting his hand on her forehead.

Holly tried to smile but it came out as a grimace. Tears were starting to blur her vision.

"I'll take that as a yes then," said George, "come on, just leave the brooms there. I'll come back for them later."


End file.
